National Museum Tour: National Art Gallery

Sometimes it’s true what they say that we tend to dismiss a thing just because it’s just right there. This is especially true when it comes to local tourism and so remembering this, we decided to finally set aside time to go the National Museum of the Philippines in Manila. Having not read anything about the new museum, we did not realize that it’s a complex and one day is definitely not enough to cover everything.

Lucky for us, the guards were helpful and knowledgeable so they were able to point this out to us right away and they also gave clear directions when we asked where to go if we wanted to see Juan Luna’s Spoliarium. We got dropped off by the driver at the National Museum of National History and the National Museum of Fine Arts, also known as National Art Gallery and where all the paintings we wanted to see were, was all the way on the others side. It was not necessarily a bad thing as this gave us a chance to get a feel of how big the complex is and to familiarize ourselves with the location of the other buildings.

One very important tip is to come as early as you can especially when you’re planning a weekend visit, that way you get some peace and quiet before the crowds come in. Since we like being early, we were able to take a good photo of the Spoliarium and other important pieces without having to wait for people taking selfies to finish. If it’s your first time, we also advise that you view and appreciate the artworks according to the suggested flow as indicated by the gallery numbers.

If you want to do prior research, you can read about the different galleries on the website.We’re sharing with you some photos of the artworks taken during our tour but please know that nothing compares to the real thing. While we did finish going through all the galleries, one day is definitely enough to really soak everything in so we plan to come back to re-visit the galleries and pieces that made the most impact to us.