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Week 16 17

The document discusses the importance of historical sites, structures, and museums in learning about history. It provides examples of national historical sites managed by NHCP, such as shrines dedicated to heroes. Museums exhibit artifacts and artworks to educate the public about the past. Visiting these places gives a unique experience to understand Philippine history beyond textbooks.

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nuguitjoanne16
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25 views

Week 16 17

The document discusses the importance of historical sites, structures, and museums in learning about history. It provides examples of national historical sites managed by NHCP, such as shrines dedicated to heroes. Museums exhibit artifacts and artworks to educate the public about the past. Visiting these places gives a unique experience to understand Philippine history beyond textbooks.

Uploaded by

nuguitjoanne16
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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HISTORICAL SITES, STRUCTURES, AND MUSEUMS

Key Concepts
Tangible cultural heritage. Physical artifacts produced, maintained, and
transmitted intergenerationally in a society.
Historical shrine. A place or building that is respected because of its historical
importance
Memorialization. The process of preserving memories of people or events through
commemorative events, ceremonies, or the creation of memorials and
remembrance spaces
Museum. A space where historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural objects are stored
and exhibited.
When we learn about our history inside the classroom, we tend to forget
the reality that our country's history resides anywhere and everywhere.
History is in that old church you pass by, that old worn-down house or
building in your town, or that piece of artifact in the local museum in glass cages.
Sometimes, all it takes is to stop and think about it--chances are, the road you
walk on is the same path prominent historical personalities have trudged on in the
past. Our heritage is a living source that could aid us in understanding historical
concepts.
Heritage is the bridge that links history, memory, and identity--the three
pillars of historical education. Through our built heritage, we learn about our
history, we memorialize important historical events, and we identify how these
events contribute to our identity as Filipinos.
Thus, historical sites, structures, and museums are indispensable in our
study of History.

The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) is the


government agency mandated to restore, preserve, and conserve movable and
immovable objects of historical value for the country.
They manage the numerous shrines, memorials and museums, and put-up
markers in places of historical importance.
Local governments also join in the effort by promoting local history through
public spaces where locals can congregate to remember and through local and
national historical events. It would be quite impossible that there is not one
accessible place near you that you can visit that serves the function of
memorializing history.
However, there would be times when it would be challenging to visit
historical sites or museums. It may be due to various factors, such as location or
the realities, that prohibit us from physically going out. As digital natives, a simple
search online could lead you to online tours and exhibits that provide a similar
experience Whatever form you choose, remember that our past literally
surrounds us, and there is an immeasurable wealth of knowledge that we can
learn from these sites. physically or digitally.
In this lesson, we talk about the importance of this tangible cultural
heritage. physical spaces of remembrance, memorials to the past, and markers of
our identity We look at how these spaces recreate the past and what we can learn
from them By interacting with these spaces, we realize that history is alive,
history endures and that we are all part of history.
Historical Sites and Structures
There are many historical sites that the NHCP has identified all over the
country.
An indicator that the NHCP recognizes a site is when it bears a historical
marker, a plaque made of cast iron that bears the seal of the Republic of the
Philippines and details the historical information relevant to the site. It is put in
places of historical significance, which is decided based on whether a person,
event, site, or structure led to or resulted in profound changes in the lives of the
community, the country, or a considerable segment of our population; if the
changes are durable or lasting; whether and how much the person, event, site, or
structure reveals something meaningful or essential about our past; and whether
the person, event, site, or structure. resonates to us or concerns us to this day.
Historic sites and structures are identified through the following criteria:
first, properties strongly associated with important historical events, heroes, and
illustrious Filipinos whose distinctive historic contribution endures;
second, properties that bear strong foreign historical or period influences, such as
Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, Mexican, American, or Japanese, and those that provide
strong evidence of historical relations with other countries;
third, sites of first establishments in the Philippines (for example, site of the first
printing press, commercial house, theater, distillery, et cetera); and
fourth, groups or clusters of buildings or structures or a whole precinct, district, or
town center, including plazas, gardens, landscapes, historic ruins, streets,
pathways, stairs, bridges, fences, visual corridors, vista points and other open
spaces, town plan patterns, and immediate environs, whose historic importance is
seen in the entirety of the setting, unit, or space rather than its individual
elements or characteristics.
fifth, these sites or structures must be at least 50 years old and 70 percent
authentic.
The NHCP also maintains National Historical Shrines. These are sacred sites
or structures in honor of a national hero or a highly significant historical event.
The National Registry of Historic Sites and Structures in the Philippines
(www. nhcphistoricsites.blogspot.com) lists 23 sites, such as the:
Melchora Aquino Shrine in Quezon City,
Andres Bonifacio Shrine in Manila,
Mt. Samat National Shrine in Bataan,
Emilio Aguinaldo Shrine in Cavite,
Mabini Shrine in Tanauan,
Rizal Shrines in Calamba, Fort Santiago, and Dapitan, among others.

Aside from these shrines, there are also historical museums under the supervision
of the NHCP.

These historical sites and structures are conserved, and preserved by the
NHCP because they bear an essential role in reminding Filipinos of our rich history.
Visiting these sites gives us a learning experience unique from our study in
Philippine history.

Museums
Museums are informal learning spaces as opposed to formal areas, such as
schools and classrooms. These are places where learners can engage with exhibits
and activities that enhance their knowledge and appreciation of the past.
Museums are designed for learning. Artworks, objects, and historical
materials are presented to viewers to enable education and appreciation. It
provides visitors a sensory exploration of these museum objects together with
museum texts that explain the value of such objects and why we need to interact
with it.
As opposed to a classroom, the "home" or the three "Rs": reading, 'riting
(writing), and 'rithmetic (arithmetic), the museum is home for the three "As": the
authentic, the aesthetic, and the accessible. Real objects and phenomena
represent authenticity in the museums--the source of its strength. Museums are
aesthetic environments that allow visitors to engage with the senses. Museums
make the past, the present, and the imagined accessible to the visitors.
In Metro Manila, the National Museum of the Philippines is a museum
complex that consists of several museums.
One of which is the National Museum of Fine Arts, which holds important
works, such as religious art from the Spanish colonial period, paintings by artists
Juan Luna, Félix Resurrección Hidalgo and their contemporaries, sculptures by
Guillermo Tolentino, and many other collections.
Another museum in the complex is the National Museum of Anthropology,
which houses ethnological and archaeological exhibitions, such as the wreck of
San Diego warship of the Spanish Navy sunk in 1600, the Manunggul Jar,
secondary burial jar excavated from the Tabon Caves in Palawan and the Laguna
Copperplate Inscription.
The National Museum also maintains regional museums, in Butuan, Vigan,
Benguet, Ilocos Sur, Puerto Princesa Zamboanga City, Cebu, Romblon, Davao
Oriental, and Batanes among others.
There are numerous other museums in Metro Manila, such as the Ayala
Museum, a private museum with a rich collection of dioramas about Philippine
history, ceramics and porcelain collections, and the largest collection of
archaeological gold in the country, among others.
In the historic Intramuros, another museum called Bahay Tsinoy by the
Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center documents the history, lives, and contributions
of ethnic Chinese in the Philippine life and history.
The Metropolitan Museum of Manila exhibits the Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas Collection of classical Philippine goldwork from the eighth to the
thirteenth centuries, while the GSIS Museum of Art features the largest mural
publicly on display created by Fernando Amorsolo.
Universities also host museums that are worth a visit, such as the University
of Santo Tomas (UST) Museum of Arts and Sciences, the oldest existing museum in
the Philippines.
The University of the Philippines also has the Jorge B. Vargas Museum, the
Filipiniana Research Center, and the Bulwagan ng Dangal University Heritage
Museum.
Outside Metro Manila, the notable university museums include the
Southwestern University Museum that exhibits iron age potteries, rare ceramics.
and other important artifacts, the Silliman University Anthropology Museum in
Dumaguete that houses unique and priceless collections of ethnographic and
archaeological artifacts, and the Aga Khan Museum of Islamic Arts of the
Mindanao State University, the largest Filipino Muslim collection in the country.
There are also local community museums managed by local governments in
the Philippines, which house collections of local importance and features local
histories. Examples of these are the Pasig City Museum, the Cagayan Provincial
Museum in Tuguegarao, Tanauan City Museum in Batangas, and Pila Museum in
Laguna, among others.

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