Inside Museo de Baler

Museo de Baler is found right behind the Quezon Park in Baler, Aurora. On the façade of this two-story red brick structure are relief sculptures depicting the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, the history and development of Baler. Toym Imao was commissioned to do the sculptures. 

A skylight spanning the middle of the museum provides natural illumination in the predominantly earth tone hues of the interior.

A bust of President Manuel L. Quezon greeted us as we entered Museo de Baler. After doing the customary signing in the visitor’s logbook, we started our tour.

We started off by checking the raised-relief map of Baler. The 3-D map helped me approximate the distances and locate other tourist destinations of Baler, which we would be visiting later. After which, my friend and I explored the museum separately.

My tour of the museum’s first floor was in a clockwise direction. Right after the map is a human skeleton found in an ancient burial site. The excavated human skeletal remains, with the skull partially covered with a ceramic bowl and surrounded with other ornaments, is encased on a glass display.

Next is an exhibit about the Ilongots, native inhabitants of the Sierra Madre and Caraballo Mountains. Ilongots are known to be headhunters but this ritual of headhunting is no longer practiced.

The right wing of the museum’s ground floor pays homage to the galleon trade between the Philippines and Mexico that flourished from 1565 to 1815. It showcases a miniature replica of a Spanish galleon and Chinese ceramics salvaged from different galleon shipwrecks.

Going up to the second floor, there’s an exhibit celebrating the Philippine-Spanish Friendship. Miniature models of Spanish-era structures and a wall exhibit narrating the origin of the Philippine-Spanish Friendship are on display.

Next are the bells of Baler Church. The year of casting is engraved on each of the bells – 1800, 1873 and 1971.

After the bells and comprising half of the second floor are contemporary artworks.

My tour ended at an exhibit about the film Baler. Baler is a Filipino drama film loosely based on the Siege of Baler, the last stand of Spanish forces in the Philippines, which happened at Baler Church.

On display are some period costumes and a few of the sets used in the movie. 

The film won several awards including Best Picture during the 2008 Metro Manila Film Festival. Eventually, the trophies won were donated to Museo de Baler as a tribute to the people and town of Baler.