“Tara, museum date!” (Let’s have a museum date!)
I occasionally read this line on social media giving me the hint that younger Filipinos seem to be increasingly visiting museums. I don't know why this is happening but I see this as a good sign that Filipinos seem to be curious about exploring their cultural identity, history, and country. I hope this is not just because of the aesthetic appeal or their romantic pursuits.
Have you ever been to a museum before? How was the experience? Did you enjoy it?
Last time my older cousin asked me for some ideas for a perfect place to roam around Manila. Being a person who's too lazy to go outside of my home, I probably don't have any ideas to share. Luckily, after a while, they mentioned Intramuros and the National Museum. They said that they often read about these two places on social media, so they were now intrigued about them.
I agreed to go with the idea, even though I had already visited it before. It had been several years since my last visit, and who knows, maybe there have been changes to the place and it's more beautiful than before.
After some discussion, we finally agreed upon the date and the price of the van we would rent. Viola! The National Museum and Intramuros date were finally happening.
By the way, it's a family date. I have no romantic relationship at the moment, so I have no choice but to join my family and pretend that I don't envy those couples who flood my newsfeed with aesthetically pleasing/romantic photos beside a preserved monkey. But I am manifesting that I'll experience that too, hopefully with the right person.
The National Museum of the Philippines was divided into three; the National Museum of Fine Arts, the National Museum of Anthropology, and the National Museum of Natural History. These are separated into three huge neoclassical buildings, which are located near each other. To be honest, at first, I thought there was only one National Museum and that was Fine arts. But thanks to our recent museum date and I am able to visit and explore the other two.
National Museum of Anthropology
After our Fort Santiago visit (which I will be sharing with you soon), we went to the museum of Anthropology. The museum, which used to be called the Museum of the Filipino People, features exhibitions on ethnology and archaeology.
We are lucky, I guess because there's an ongoing exhibition called Indio-Genius (Indigenous) that portrays the works of Kidlat Tahimik born from his wild imagination. This will only be seen from October 22, 2022, to March 2023.
The huge ship you can see behind us was one of the works of Kidlat Tahimik. It was made up of logs, dried leaves, and other organic materials. I can't avoid thinking that Kidlat Tahimik is so passionate about what he's doing because he's able to exert a lot of time and effort in building this giant ship by just using materials that can be found in his surroundings.
But to be honest, there's an intrusive thought telling me that I should go upstairs of that ship and re-create the symbolic Titanic scene of Jack and Rose.
This is one of the cool exhibits I saw there. The images were formed thru weaving. These are handwoven by an ethnic group here in the Philippines. As you can see, the left image is Dr. Jose Rizal (Philippine National Hero), the right is an image of him with his friends, and the center is also him on a table thinking and writing. There's an eye below, maybe a reminder that Rizal is looking at us, doing a facepalm because of what Filipinos have become, just kidding.
The above image is a miniature of Bahay Kubo (Nipa hut) which is a symbolic icon here in the Philippines. It's a well-known house of indigenous people and also the dominant house design during the pre-colonial period.
Here's my mom and beside her is equipment usually used by ethnic people in weaving textiles. It's like our modern sewing machine but this is way harder. If you're curious about how this works, check the video here.
Also in this part of the museum, other exhibits that showcase how ethnic tribes have their own way of making fabrics can be seen. I am amazed at how they use plant pigments on dying their clothes.
There are other still other things to see but unfortunately, a day is insufficient to browse all of the things in the museum. The national museum of anthropology is so huge.
National Museum of Natural History
This is what I enjoyed the most.
The National Museum of Natural History exhibits the country's records of the history of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and other more.
So, the image on the left is the exterior of the museum and the other photo is the interior. This was renovated around 2015, and checking the before and after photos of this museum on the internet makes me amazeballs. The interior improved a lot. Can you see the tall tower behind me? It was an elevator that will bring you to the uppermost level of the building where the exhibit begins. The fun part is as you explore and progress to other parts of the museum, you will also find yourself going down. I just find the architectural design brilliant.
Here's a picture of my family. Behind us is Lolong - the largest crocodile in captivity. I can't remember if this is the actual crocodile or it's just the replica but nonetheless seeing this makes me think about how the hunters captured this huge thing. Imagine how chaotic it was and how stressful it is for the crocodile.
These two fellas are also one of the exhibits in the museums. They are my spirit animals. The monkey portrays how irritable I am when I lack sleep, while the bird shows how I want my life to be, lol!
I enjoyed reading the description of each exhibit. If my family just doesn't have any other agenda that day, I will surely spend my whole day wandering in that museum. But because of time constraints, I have no choice but to just scan and browse the remaining exhibits. I promised to myself that I will come back here and indulge myself in knowledge.
All in all, I will rate my museum experience a 10/10. Did I enjoy it? Yes, of course!
If you've made it here, thank you so much for reading my blog. I always spend several hours just to complete a blog like this, which might seem like an exaggeration to others but trust me, it's not 😅. So, the thought of someone reading my blog already warms my heart (∩˃o˂∩)♡. Until the next blog, bye!
