Calling the professionals, and college and senior high school students in the field of creatives, and behavioral and social sciences! In celebration of the Museum and Galleries Month 2022, your National Museum of the Philippines invites you to a lecture, “Selling the Exotic Ethnic: On the History of the Filipino Souvenir Store and Filipiniana Displays 1888-2022″. Click the link below or access the QR for the registration. Registration will be open until October 03, 2022.
Your National Museum of the Philippines will be having travel photographer George Tapan for a photography lecture on Art of Biodiversity this Museums and Galleries Month!
George Tapan is an award-winning travel photographer who has won two Pacific Asia Tourism Association (PATA) Gold awards, an ASEAN Tourism Association award, and a 2011 National Geographic Photography contest.
Catch Mr. Tapan at his lecture, “Art of Biodiversity” at the BDO East Function Hall, 6F, National Museum of Natural History on 14 October 2022 (Friday), 1:00 pm. Admission to this event is free, but seats are limited. Register now through: https://forms.gle/VNeKif9KPypfvdwW8
For questions or inquiries, please email educationandtraining@nationalmuseum.gov.ph and natmus_zoo@yahoo.com.
Join us as we celebrate Museums and Galleries Month (MGM) and National Indigenous People’s Month (NIPM) at the #NationalMuseumPH!
As part of the activities for MGM and NIPM, the National Museum of the Philippines will organize a lecture and pop-up exhibition by Ms. Ditta Sandico entitled, Journey Beyond Fashion at the Gallery 1, National Museum of Anthropology on October 15, 2022 at 2:00 in the afternoon.
Ms. Sandico is a fashion designer for more than three decades. Her passion involves the use of locally available fibers like pineapple, abaca, and cotton in her creations. She has been supporting and working with weaving communities in Bulacan, Ilocos Sur, Mindoro, and Catanduanes. Through this event, may her advocacy and passion radiate to young aspiring designers to work with our local weaving communities.
Your #NationalMuseumPH will officially launch the “Philippine Meteorites” exhibition on October 7, 2022. It features pieces from three of the six confirmed meteorites from the Philippines– Pantar, Bondoc, and Orconuma. These space rocks will be on public display at the Godofredo Alcasid Function Hall located on the ground floor of the National Museum of Natural History at the National Museum of the Philippines Complex in Rizal Park, Manila.
Are you missing the Planetarium? Scratch your cosmic itch and visit us and learn more about the history of our solar system!
Only a few of Albay’s heritage churches withstood the effects of volcanic eruptions, one is Daraga Church, the focus of today’s #BuiltTraditionThursday. The Nuestra Señora de la Porteria Church or Daraga Parish Church’s bell tower, eastern and western facades, and baptistry were declared a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum in 2007. In 2008, Daraga church was recognized with a Level II Historical marker by the National Historical Institute.
The Daraga Church exterior (photo by Ar. Balaguer, 2022)
The Daraga Church pediment (photo by Ar. Balaguer, 2022)
Built on top of a hill by the Franciscans in 1773, the Daraga Church offers an unimpeded scenic landscape dominated by its rich Baroque church architecture. Adding to its unique setting is the Mayon Volcano, which is clearly visible northward of the elevated terrain and from the right side of the church. The north and south sides are bounded by open spaces providing wide corridors and buffers. Grand stairways lead to the church’s main facade facing eastward. The church is cruciform in plan with its U-shaped convent attached to the southern wall and the campanile adjacent to the northern wall. The church structure’s footprint is about 3,878.26 sq. m. with a width of about 46 meters. The four-level campanile, octagonal in plan, is about 21.17 meters high and houses a bell with a diameter of roughly 17 meters.
The stonework above the main church portal (photo by Ar. Balaguer, 2022)
The walls of Daraga Church, which are made primarily of volcanic rocks, remained intact and exhibit Baroque ornamentation. The heavily articulated front façade, facing east, is divided into three lateral segments, separated by four twisted columns or Salomónica columns, and topped by a triangular pediment containing niches of saints and foliage embellishments. Each Salomónica column has a fern capital and a shaft that contains a relief of twisting vines and grapes or ubas, and a medallion of an ecclesiastical image at mid-shaft. Each segment has an arcuated portal with carved foliage, statued niches, and religious arts adorning every space on the masonry walls. Inscriptions and sculpted decorations border the central entrance arch, as well.
A lateral segment of the church main facade (photo by Ar. Balaguer, 2022)
The Daraga Church belfry (photo by Ar. Balaguer, 2022)
In 2012, Daraga church has undergone a conservation process through a stakeholder-initiated restoration that received grant funding from the National Commission of Culture and the Arts (NCCA). The project commenced with an extensive research, physical inventory, documentation, experimentations, and trainings to determine and execute appropriate measures for conservation. Proper and necessary interventions were implemented on the church’s architectural and stone surfaces on exterior walls and massive buttresses. Mayon rocks were also delicately crafted to replace missing stone components. Wall surfaces were applied a lime wash, which was documented in the inventory as the original finishing.
Salomónica column detail (photo by Ar. Balaguer, 2022)
The Daraga Church exemplifies an elaborately sculpted Baroque edifice featuring ecclesiastical arts of the Franciscan order set in a distinctive and elevated landscape with a view of the Mayon Volcano—an architectural marvel and a historical landmark worth protecting and preserving.
Article, photos, and illustration by Ar. Marie Bernadette Balaguer
