Travel Guide to National Museum of the Philippines
Revisited on May 2011
This is NOT a sponsored post. All opinions are mine.
<
About National Museum
“The National Museum of the Philippines is the official repository established in 1901 as a natural history and ethnography museum of the Philippines. It is located next to Rizal Park and near Intramuros in Manila. Its main building was designed in 1918 by an American architect Daniel Burnham. Today, that building, the former home of the Congress of the Philippines, holds the National Art Gallery, natural sciences and other support divisions.The adjacent building in the Agrifina Circle of Rizal Park, formerly housing the Department of Finance, houses the Anthropology and Archaeology Divisions and is known as the Museum of the Filipino People.” – friendly Wiki
The museum is housed in two adjacent buildings. One within the boundaries of Luneta Park and the main building along Finance Road.
First stop is the main building, the former Congress of the Philippines.
|
|
This room houses paintings of Jose Joya, Manansala and other visual artists. The paintings below were from Jose T. Joya – House of Nikko, 1064, oil in canvas, 172 cm x 198.3 cm
|
|
|
 |
 |
| Butuan Boat |
“Written records in countless history books have always claimed that the Philippines, being an archipelago, had an extensive and ancient maritime culture. No physical evidence for the presence of boats used for the open waters was available to support this idea until the major discovery of prehistoric boats in Butuan in 1978. Pothunters in search of the famous Chinese ceramics buried in the city, revealed several pieces of wood – certainly of no value to collectors. However, the “worthless” timber turned into a major boon for the study of Philippine Prehistory, providing proof of the ancient boat-building technology of the early Filipinos as well as their participation in the regional maritime activities of Southeast Asia.When the news of the discovery reached the National Museum, a team was sent to excavate the water-logged materials. Eight boats were discovered, three being excavated with dates 320, 1250 and 990 AD. Archeologists identified the boats as “balangay“, mentioned by historians like Alcina and Scott, and various Chinese chroniclers. One of the Butuan boats has been preserved and reconstructed for public display in the National Museum.”
 |
| Astrolabe [hanging navigator] Bronze before 1590 |
 |
| Salapa [Lanao del Sur] Nganga [Cigarette} container |
 |
| Pandanan Shipwreck |
“In 1993, scuba divers from a pearl farm discovered large ceramic jars off the coast of Pandanan Island in Palawan. Underwater archeologists revealed the presence of a Southeast Asian trading vessel loaded with tradeware ceramics, dating to the 15th Century. This re-creation of the Pandanan excavation illustrates how archeologists conduct research underwater. Wooden rafts built as working platforms were moored over the wreck, serving as storage, power sites, and housed the compressed air for scyba gear. Underwater excavation was guided by a centerline used as a reference point for measurements. A movable square grid was applied to record the location of each archeological specimen recovered and photographs were taken using special equipment. A diver excavates using a vacuum hose generated by water pump while another diver inspects the seabed cleared by the vacuum.”
 |
| ancient canon balls were made of stones. Note that we did not allow her to touch anything from the museum, we strictly guided her, she just have that fascination with marbles =) |
 |
| first books published |
Update:
As of August 2018, the National Museum of Fine Arts is finally completed. I have some photos posted over at our Facebook Page (DeiVille) just in case you want to see the upgrade they made.
http://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph
DeiVille.com, created by Green Dei (Daryll Villena)
Write us at deiville.com(at)gmail(dot)com for tips on digital branding , entrepreneurship, consumerism, parenting, health talk, women talk, Pinoy travels and Manila lifestyle.
If you find this post helpful, informative or entertaining, feel free to SHARE it.
Get instant updates from deiville.com on:
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | YouTube
I’d love to know what you think about this post. Feel free to leave your comment.
I do reply to each of your messages or questions so please come back if you’ve left one.
Disclosure: DeiVille receives products in order to conduct reviews. No monetary compensation was provided unless noted otherwise. All opinions are 100% my own. Some posts may contain web links in exchange for payment. In the event of a giveaway, the sponsor is responsible for delivery of the prize, unless otherwise noted in the posting. I only recommend, discuss, or introduce products/services/businesses I personally use and believe will be a good fit for my readers.
>I enjoyed the photo where your daughter was sitting beside an ancient canon. For a moment there, I thought the display looked so real until a realized that it is a real child in the display. hahahahaha.
>Great post! I really, really appreciated since it has given me a lot of interesting and useful ideas. I’ve been searching for similar post like this the whole and fortunately I was able to land here.
>I am a culture junkie too Daryll! 'Hope we can organize activities like this. 🙂 Keep it up! :)foydi of http://www.bayanihan-republic.blogspot.com
>You know what, the National Museum is really underrated. It's actually very very nice and has drastically improved from before. The last time I was here was more than 5 years ago and it seems to be even betterAnd I'm glad they now allow taking photos!
>I think she was imagining how is it getting hit by the canon balls 😀
>You have the will and judgement to organized Ferdie, you have my support all the time. 😉
>Indeed, government should allocate more funds to improve the whole museums. There were dirty/vacant and unused galleries. Museum management needs to set up more activities to rejuvenate National Museum.
>I know I haven't lived and haven't proved myself to be a true Filipino until I have visited that museum. can't believe I haven't visited the national museum yet. lol ButI want to visit it soon w/ my daughter, it's a must. Gonna push for that soon. 🙂
>pity me.. hindi pa ako nakakapunta dito, before i read this post im planning to visit all the museums here in the Philippines.. great post indeed..
>I've always wanted to go to the National Museum. The last time I went here was during my 3rd grade field trip. Seeing your post even encouraged me all the more to check it out.
>I didn't know that our culture is so rich. Hope to drop by there sometime.