It was a typical Sunday
morning then. Our family decided to go to this certain mall near Manila City
Hall. Most of us found this plan boring, but we have got no other options. I
myself was too lazy to think of somewhere else to go within the city, so as I
was about to agree on going to the mall, a thought suddenly came into my mind.
Why not go to the National Museum? Yes it does sound a little bit out of the
blue, but for someone who’s familiar with that certain part of Manila, it is
hard not to notice the big buildings of the National Museum, sitting just
beside the Manila City Hall.
I did not have a hard time
convincing them to add the museum to our whereabouts. Weird as it may seem but
they immediately agreed! And so I said to myself that this will be fun. This
must be fun! Because this will be our first family trip to a legit museum.
Yahoo!
By riding a tricycle and LRT 1
from home, it only took us an hour to reach the museum. Even though the trip
gave us no hassle when it comes to commuting, the noon-afternoon heat gave us
no mercy for I can already sense the irritation of my companies. I, myself will
admit that having your shirt stained by your own sweat is really not a nice
thing, but the bigger thing that worried me is the possibility that my family
would not enjoy our trip anymore.
All of my worries were washed
away as soon as we entered the museum. A good thing immediately welcomed us by
knowing that the entrance fee is FREE every Sunday! Oh yes, you have read it
right!
So, after checking in our
bags, we immediately proceeded towards the rooms of the building. Apparently,
the building was solely for the art collections, mostly of paintings. We saw different
paintings from different local artists. One of the contributors that interests
me so much was Fernando Amorsolo. I remember him only as topic, or merely an
example in studying Arts in MAPEH in elementary and high school, and now,
imagine, his original paintings are hung before me! His paintings are truly
amazing. His realistic concepts in his artworks are to die for!
Another contributor that was
featured in the gallery was Juan Luna. And what specific painting first comes
into our mind when we pertain to Juan Luna? Spoliarium! Yes, the great
spoliariium. Though it is only a replica of the actual one, Spoliarium, not
only being notable of its big size, is also one of the most treasured paintings
of our country for it portrays an important part of the Filipino history.
I can’t state one by one the
list of the contributors whose artworks were showcased in the gallery for they
are so many. I think I’ll just leave it for you to find out yourselves.
When you visit a museum, one
of the things that you are really expecting to see are artifacts and old
things, so I asked a museum staff where are those located. He then led us to
another building, and God! It was amazing!
The building has different
rooms that features shipwrecks. Different artifacts that was discovered from
different shipwrecks were displayed in each respective rooms. Also, on the
second floor, you can go back in time by entering adjacent rooms that bring you
to different time frame or era in the history. Well, this is my favorite part
of the whole museum trip because I felt like I was really time travelling in
the past.
Each section and each part of
the rooms were equipped with information that’s why you will not only be
feeding your eyes for these amazing things, but also, you will be feeding your
mind by the details describing the portrayed artifacts.
The ‘time-travel’ ended in the
years when our heroes lived. All the heroism and the events that have happened
during the Spanish up to the Japanese occupation was presented. Pictures and brief
paragraphs were posted on the walls to educate the visitors of the battles and
struggles that our own fellowmen went through just to obtain our glorious
independence.
As we stepped out of the rooms
and as we went down to the lobby of the museum, I can sense the awe that we
felt. We were almost literally left mouth-opened of the experience we have just
had. Yes, it’s not the loud, active and extreme type of trip, but it’s truly
refreshing to have this kind of activity wherein you can simply take it slow, observe
and just appreciate the real beauty of art and history that are usually and
slowly being forgotten due to our fast changing and busy lifestyle.
Take a stop. Observe.
Appreciate. Reflect.
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