Monday, September 01, 2008 Bernardino-Jalandoni museum to mark century anniversary
"SILAY City is dubbed as '(little) Paris' of Occidental Negros for its rich culture and history and ancestral houses in the city which preserve great Filipino culture of the past," said Benjamin Arceo, curator of the Bernardino Jalandoni museum in Silay.
The ancestral house, which was built in 1908, was owned by Don Bernardino Jalandoni and wife Ysabel Ledesma-Jalandoni. It is now a museum located along the busy street of Rizal near the city market.
The museum is currently being repainted in preparation for the ancestral house's 100th year anniversary from when it was built.
"This two-storey ancestral house is 90% original and well-preserved," Arceo added.
The ancestral home was declared as the first national heritage landmark in the city by the National Heritage Institute of the Philippines last April 6, 1993. Antique chairs, tables, dividers and many more household items and stuff are well-preserved to this date and serve as "mirrors of the history of the old times."
Also in the museum were the portraits of all Negros and Silay government officials as well as a huge collection of one-of-a-kind replicas of several Filipino national heroes.
Filipino folk games such as sungka, ariring, trompo and kadang will be played in the museum on November 8 as part of the historic event, another moment of journey back to the past for the Silaynons.
Another highlight, Arceo said, is the macetera-making contest for all Silaynons. Macetera is a flower pot made of clay. As celebration climax, a Filipino stage play will be held to show great Filipino cultures which will be participated in by selected parish youth in the city.
The century celebration, with a theme "Isang Araw ng Kultura at Sining Filipino," is free to the public.
"This museum boasts of an affluent lifestyle of the period and speaks of a high-cultured Negrenses," Arceo said.
The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays to Sundays with an entrance fee of P40 for adult visitors, while students get a 50 percent discount. (JOC)
