Museum memories
March 19, 2026Description: The carefree adventurer talks about her visit at Cebu's history museum.
Point of interest: Museo Sugbo [10.303817, 123.906692]
Location: Cebu City, PH
CW: Death of a historical figure
This post was written for this month's IndieWeb Carnival. Thanks to James for hosting the event!
So far, I have visited two museums in my country: Museo Sugbo and UPLB Museum of Natural History. I think that the former is my favorite because it is more easily accessible to the public than the latter. I feel like its niche and small size are ideal for a quick museum trip, especially in the place where Ferdinand Magellan first visited in 1521 (and was eventually slain by Lapulapu during the Battle of Mactan on the same year).
Museo Sugbo is named after the Cebuano or Bisaya term Sugbo, which can refer to the aforementioned city and island. Once used as a provincial city jail, it now houses various collections about the region's tumultuous history. While this museum is rather small, it is rich in the island's lore that is barely explained in the Philippines' academic textbooks.
Six years ago, I visited this museum during the metropolitan Cebu tour with my siblings. (That was right before the community quarantine happened.) Although I only took a few pictures there, I got intrigued with some exhibits like the women's traditional dresses and the glass shelf with ancient ceramics.
A pair of photos that were taken inside Museo Sugbo. The left side is an exhibit featuring two life-size mannequins wearing baro't saya (a traditional women's outfit in the Philippines), as well as a wooden chair in between them. The right side is a collection of pots and bowls in an enclosed glass shelf.
The left side showcases the baro't saya, a traditional costume for Filipina women. The mannequin on the left has a matching bronze skirt and blouse patterns, while the one on the right has a white-and-pink striped skirt. Both of the mannequins are wearing off-white blouses, which are likely made from pineapple fiber.
The right side showcases a small collection of pots and bowls, which seem to come from the pre-colonial era. From what I can discern in the photo1, the ceramics inside the glass shelf are made of clay and porcelain. While most of them are in good condition, there is a white bowl that looks shattered at the lower section of the shelf.
Anyway, I want to visit more museums (specifically those with free or low entrance fees) in the future. I am always interested in learning about historical artifacts like these, regardless of the location. Since I only get surface-level knowledge about the Philippine history from textbooks (and possibly the Internet world), I feel like museum visits could deepen that.
1 That is actually a screenshot of a short video from my private archive.