National Museum of Anthropology, National museum in Ermita, Philippines
The National Museum of Anthropology sits in a five-story neoclassical building with giant Corinthian columns and a central courtyard in the heart of Manila. The rooms spread across several levels and display burial vessels, textiles, weapons, and tools from different regions of the Philippines.
The institution began in 1901 during American colonial rule as the Insular Museum of Ethnology and went through several name changes. After war damage from artillery in 1945, reconstruction took place in 1949, restoring the northeast facade and roof.
The Manunggul Jar shows two figures in a boat and comes from a burial cave in Palawan, with the smaller paddle of the boatman pointing toward the passage to the afterlife. The Laguna Copperplate bears one of the oldest known inscriptions from the archipel and records trade links with other Southeast Asian communities in the 10th century.
The facility sits near Rizal Park and opens Tuesday through Sunday from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM with no admission charge. Visitors should allow enough time since the collection spans five floors and a tour can easily take two to three hours.
The central courtyard has a glass roof that lets daylight into the upper galleries and allows a view upward through the floors. Many visitors do not notice that some objects from precolonial times in the Philippines rank among the oldest surviving artifacts in the country.
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