Museo Antiqueño opens April 27
San Jose, Antique -- A showcase of Antiqueño heritage and repository of Antique's historical and cultural artifacts, the "Museo Antiqueño" formally opens on Friday, April 27. This was jointly announced by Antique Governor Salvacion Zaldivar-Perez and Prof. Alex delos Santos , executive Director of the Binirayan Foundation Inc.(BFI). Housed at the old capitol building in San Jose town the museum is owned by the Provincial Government of Antique and is maintained under the auspices of the BFI.
As museums are always a work in progress, Museo Antique, for a start has two galleries: The EBJ gallery and the main gallery. The EBJ gallery is dedicated to Evelio B. Javier, an Antiqueño who along with Senator Ninoy Aquino are the Philippine's modern day heroes. The EBJ gallery was enhanced and opened in October last year.
The main gallery showcases Antiqueño culture. Start up funds for the main gallery came from the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA). In February this year, during the celebration of the National Arts Month, Museo Antiqueño was declared by the NCCA as a "Sentro ng Sining."
As a gallery of Antiqueño culture, this part of Museo Antiqueño is divided into parts that describes and re-tells the story of its people and how they lived. The gallery starts with a chapter on the peoples of Antique and the origins of the Kinaray-a. It also carry segments on Kabuhi Kang Antique or its flora and fauna; The Ati, and Balay kang karay-a.
Another part of the gallery showcases Antique's faith and rituals such as the Samba, a traditional communal rite performed by the 'maaram' for the good of the community. A separate segment describes Antique's faith upon the coming of the Spaniards in the Philippines while another segment is dedicated to rites of the sea.
Aptly titled, Dagat: Pangabuhian kag tulay kang kultura, this part of the main gallery depicts why Antique folklore is replete with images of the sea and how the sea has shaped the imagination of the karay-a as gleaned from the Hiniraya epics and the Olayra. For more details, Interested parties can call the Binirayan Foundation Inc. at (036) 540- 7343.