CEBU does not boast of one great museum but it does have small museums that give any visitor to the city a glimpse of the city’s storied past as well as a peek into the character of the place and her inhabitants. These museums are scattered all over the city but downtown Cebu has a number of them that are near enough each other to make it possible to visit them all in a day.
First, there is Casa Gorordo. Built in the 1860s, it is located in Lopez Jaena St. It is a lifestyle museum that used to be the home of the first Filipino bishop of Cebu, Juan Gorordo. The museum shows how affluent Cebuanos lived in the late 19th and early 20th century through its furniture, paintings, household artifacts and implements, and the building itself, with its floors and walls made of Philippine hard wood. Several generations of the Gorordo family lived there, until the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. bought it and converted it into a museum. In September 1991, it was declared a historical landmark of the Philippines.
A few steps away from Casa Gorordo is the Yap-Sandiego Ancestral House, at the corner of Lopez Jaena and Mabini Sts. It was built in the late 17th century and is also made of Philippine hard wood and is tile-roofed. Originally owned by Don Juan Yap and his wife Doña Maria Florido, the house is among the oldest residential houses in the Philippines. It was turned over to Doña Maria’s great, great grandson, Val Sandiego, in 2008. It now houses Val’s collection of religious artifacts and other antiques and furniture. With Val himself being a religious person and choreographer with a sense of history, a lot of performances and/or participation in religious and civic activities are the norm, be it during Christmas dawn masses, Sinulog festivities, Flores de Mayo santacruzans, 12th of June celebrations, Kaplag and other religious and civic festivals.
From the house can be seen the massive Parian Monument or Heritage of Cebu monument made in brass by Eduardo Castrillo. It traces Cebu history from the landing of Ferdinand Magellan to present day Cebu.
A block away, along Zulueta St., is the entrance to the Museo de Parian-Jesuit House of 1730. It is a house probably as old if not older than the Yap-Sandiego House and has a very colorful history. In 1730, it was the residence of Jesuit priests in Cebu. Before that, it is presumed to have been the house of a Chinese merchant and made by Chinese artisans with its red tile roof and with trusses with Chinese carvings. When the Jesuits were expelled from the Philippines, the house fell into other hands and was used by the United States during World War II. It was even a night club in the 1950s. Current owner Jaime Sy has used the premises as bodega for Ho Tong hardware. When he discovered the importance of the history of the place, he converted it into the museum it is today, a process that is ongoing.
Going out of the heart of Cebu’s Parian district, one passes by Colon St., reputed to be the oldest street in the Philippines. Beyond that going further downtown at the corner of D. Jakosalem and V. Gullas Sts. is the JRG Halad Museum of educator Jose R. Gullas. It is a museum that houses musical artifacts of the city as a tribute to the musicality of Cebuanos.
Further downtown, along P. Burgos St., is the Cathedral Museum of Cebu which used to be the parish convent, then a school, a cooperative store and a temporary chapel. It houses religious artifacts from all over the Archdiocese of Cebu and thus introduces the visitor to the artifacts that can be found in specific parishes, inviting him perhaps to visit a parish whose artifacts he may be particularly interested in.
Further down P. Burgos St., at the corner of Osmena Blvd., is Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño, a historic place of worship in itself. The complex houses the basilica’s Sto. Niño museum which displays the vestments worn by the Sto. Niño through the centuries, as well as statues, church vestments and other church artifacts, plus the jewelry donated to the Niño and the toys given to Him. Outside the church complex is Magellan’s Cross, which marked the Christianization of the Philippines.
This tour of downtown museums cannot be complete without a visit to the Plaza Independencia-Fort San Pedro complex. Fort San Pedro is the smallest fort in the Philippines and is uniquely triangular in design. In the fort is a museum where the reproductions of Manuel Panares’ historical paintings are displayed. They show Cebu as a port city, then and now.
Overall, these museums show Cebu as a welcoming melting pot of people from other places that have propelled her economy, people of the merchant class with innate religiosity and musicality.