A visit to the Malacanang Palace Museum

I’ve had the opportunity to visit Malacanang 3 times so far on varied occasions.

The first time was when I was still a student during Pres. Corazon Aquino’s time – on a field trip to see the Marcos’ treasures, including Imelda’s famous shoe collection.  The second time was a few years’ back during a courtesy visit which was work-related.  And the third was yesterday – where we had the opportunity to tour the Malacanang Palace Museum.  

There were a lot of interesting things in the museum – most of which are important elements of Philippine history. Sharing with you some highlights of our tour:

Here is the desk where President Ferdinand Marcos once declared Martial Law.

I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to sit on this historical chair and get a posterity shot. Haha...

And this was the famous balcony where the Marcoses stood before the public one last time before fleeing the Philippines.

The museum has a lot of interesting rooms but this was the most beautiful for me.  It’s the Quirino Room.  The museum guide said that the table top is made from a single slab of a narra trunk.  Wow, that’s one fat narra trunk!

Each past Philippine president also had a cabinet-ful of memorabilia.  Here are some of President Emilio Aguinaldo’s memorabilia -

And President Manuel Quezon's memorabilia -

Shelves of books owned by the past Philippine presidents also lined up one big hall.  Among the First Ladies, Imelda had her own shelves of books – guess what kind of books? Books about the lives of European royalty no less!

But what awed us most in this section were copies of Jose Rizal’s manuscripts of Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.  Check these out – complete with Jose Rizal’s edits. Whoa…

Rizal had such beautiful handwriting!  A friend jokingly justified that since they didn’t have computers then, they wrote a lot and thus, had more developed skills.  But I couldn't use this as an excuse for myself because I had ugly handwriting even before I learned how to type using the computer!  Haha…

There were also a  lot of paintings, sculptures and artworks displayed in the museum but what I liked most was this -

Entitled “The First Baptism”, this is a sculpture made by Juan C. Flores, a native of Betis, Pampanga, who is credited for the renaissance of wood carving in Pampanga in the 1920s. 

In the 1930s, Pres Manuel L Quezon commissioned him and Fernando Amorsolo to do some artworks and this started a friendship between the 2 artists. 

In 1939, Amorsolo invited Flores to view his painting entitled “The First Baptism” and Flores was so impressed that it inspired him to do a wood carving version.  It took him 10 years to finish the sculpture due to the Second World War. 

Finally, what struck me most in the museum (which also happens to be the last image I saw before we left the museum) wasn’t any of the presidents but this -

It's the chest of a person who had a heart surgery.  Very powerful and moving image. :)