The Rosendo Mejica Museum is a wonderful gem of a small museum. It's easy to find at 251 Lopez Jaena Street in the Baluarte district of Molo, Iloilo City. What's special about this museum is that it is so genuine and uncontrived. It's not a grand, pretentious, off-putting hulk, but is rather the modest residence of a an important citizen. It therefore gives an authentic-feeling experience of life in turn-of-the-century Iloilo.

The museum still owned by the same family after a stint as a government-run historic landmark. Evidently the government did not have the resources to maintain the place so it was returned to the family.

Rosendo Mejica was a Ilonggo of many accomplishments. He translated Rizal's Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo from Spanish to Visayan. He founded and built the first public elementary school in the Philippines in 1905 in Baluarte, Molo. He was a newspaperman, printer and an individual engaged in every imaginable civic improvement effort.

The museum appears to be entirely original; the building itself, the furniture and other furnishings, clothing and the extensive papers and other collections of Mejica.

You may also want to check out more old houses in Molo.

Source:

Robert Hammerslag