Kuya Andrew, Migs, Dom, and I met up this afternoon to visit Museo Dabawenyo. It has been formally inaugurated but i has been open to the public for quite some time.

The first floor is home to Indigenous Peoples’ Gallery and the Moro Peoples’ Gallery where artifacts and photos of the 5 Davao tribes are showcased.

It also showcased the colorful arts, culture, and way of living of the people of Davao. The Moro Peoples’ gallery was set against a nice mural by the Fine Arts students of a local college. The mural shows an idyllic beach side community in Davao.

In the second floor is the Memorabilia Gallery which houses artifacts and information from various points of Davao City’s history.

My favorite part of the museum was the Nanay Soling Duterte Hall Modern Art Gallery. It contained interesting pieces of art that portrayed the different facets of Davao life and celebrated the tri-people culture of Davao. Tri-people pertains to the three groups of Davaoeños which have been living and working harmoniously: the Indigenous Peoples, the Christians, and the Muslims.

The gallery also contained my favorite piece in the gallery, a very colorful, eye-catching, piece of art called Sarimanok:

It was a short and brief tour as the museum still lacks some artifacts. But it was an enjoyable tour. I wish we could have a bigger museum with more artifacts, paintings, and other pieces of culture and history.

I shall try to convince my aunts to donate some artifacts and old photos we own. 🙂

Museo Dabawenyo is located along Pichon Street (formerly Magallanes Street) in Davao City. It is open Tuesdays to Sundays, 9 am – 6 pm. The entrance is FREE!!!