It has to be said that Manila is not the most appealing of cities. While the largely reconstructed old city of Intramuros has its charms, much of the rest of the city is a sprawl of modern skyscrapers, older housing, near-slums, and very congested traffic. It is one of the world’s most densely populated cities, and feels it!
However, there are gems to be found half-hidden in the sprawl. One such, for me, was the Ayala Museum in the smart district of Makati. The museum, a privately-owned one, is housed in a striking modern building and has both permanent and temporary collections. It was the brainchild of Filipino abstract painter Fernando Zóbel de Ayala y Montojo, and was established by the foundation set up in his name.
On our visit we focused mainly on some of the permanent galleries, although we did briefly enjoy a photo exhibition in the foyer with some excellent shots that I didn’t think to capture on my own camera!
Gold of Ancestors
This was by far my favourite of the galleries we visited, reminding me a lot of the wonderful Museo del Oro in Bogota, although not quite on that scale. It houses more than one thousand archaeological gold objects from the various cultures that flourished before the Spanish colonisation of these islands.
Here are some of the pieces that especially caught my eye. The captions are taken from the museum displays unless otherwise stated.
Mask
Butuan, Agusan del Norte, c. 10th-13th century
Pair of large square quatrefoil earrings
Mindoro, 13th-15th century
Kinnari
Surigao c. 10th – 13th century
In Hindu mythology, the half-human, half-horse creature called kinnari represents the positive feminine attributes of beauty, charm, poise, and elegance. When this tradition was adapted in Southeast Asia, the half-horse creature became half-bird.
This piece with a solid gold head bears facial features typical of a Filipino woman: almond-shaped eyes, high cheekbones, not so pointed nose, and thick lips. The kinnari has her hair gathered in a low bun. Probably used as a liquid pourer, the body of the bird is hollow but connects to holes on the front, likely a spout of the vessel.
Source: museum website
Bowl
Surigao c. 10th – 13th century
This solid gold bowl was probably moulded from a large coconut shell with a wide, flat bottom. Two embossed undulating lines by the rim provide grip, most likely to secure the bowl from slipping when tilted for a sip of the liquid contents.
Source: museum website
The Surigao Treasure
The Surigao collection is split between the Ayala Museum and the country’s central bank, but we were fortunate that the latter’s objects were on temporary loan here, uniting all the pieces in one place. From a sign in the museum:
In 1981, heavy machinery operator Edilberto “Berto” Morales was part of a team working on a government irrigation project in the hamlet of Magroyong, barrio San Miguel, in Surigao del Sur province in northeastern Mindanao. Morales reported for work on April 27, not realising that day would dramatically change his life. The team had been moving soil down from a nearby mountaintop. As Morales operated his motorised scraper to shift and redistribute the soil, a co-worker called his attention to a glistening object in the mud, warning that it might damage the scraper. Morales recounts that it looked like a ‘helmet’ which appeared to be made of gold. This later turned out to be a round golden bowl.
Suspecting the presence of more valuable objects, he shooed away his coworker. Left on his own, Morales combed a stretch of more than three-hundred feet from ten o’clock in the morning to five o’clock in the afternoon. By the end of the day, he had recovered about twenty-two pounds of ancient gold jewellery. The cache included an amazing necklace that measured about thirteen feet in length, which he nicknamed kwintas ni nanay (mother’s necklace). Morales recalls retrieving a rectangular, openwork vessel, woven waistbands, gold bangles set with semi-precious stones, several fragments of neck ornaments, granulated funnel-shaped finials popularly called pipa (pipe), cord weights, twisted-wire leg hoops, and a dagger of solid gold.
Many priceless ornaments were hacked into pieces to divide among several treasure hunters or melted to sell as bullion. Dealers and collectors began referring to the gold objects Morales found on April 27 and others subsequently recovered from the area by other treasure hunters as the ‘Surigao Treasure.’ The majority of these recoveries felicitously made their way to the collections of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Leandro V. and Cecilia Y. Locsin Collection (now the Ayala Museum’s Gold Collection). The intention in both cases was to save the country’s heritage from the melting pots.
Various pieces of jewellery from the Surigao Treasure
Skeins of Knowledge, Threads of Wisdom
This was my second favourite gallery, showcasing textiles from various indigenous groups of the Philippines. The museum’s website explains that one aim of the collection is
‘to make today’s Filipinos aware that among our indigenous communities are living examples of how we might be able to restore some balance in our lives, in our country, and among global communities. It places the textiles in the context of community, environment, culture, tradition, spirit, and matter.’
However it held just as much appeal for me as for any Filipino/a who might visit! My feature photo is of the same embroidery piece as the one bottom left. This is, according to the sign in the museum:
a bed canopy known locally as ol-ol. Floating over the bedstead of a sultan in his torogan (his residence), the ol-ol was best viewed when sitting or lying down on the bedstead and looking up. This particular ol-ol is unusual and significant. It depicts a representation of Al Buraq, the mythical beast who figures prominently in the Night Journey of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH. … In this depiction, only Buraq is shown. In other traditions, the prophet is shown mounted on Buraq. It is unusual in Islamic art to see representations with human and animal figures. In this Maranao representation, the mythical mount Buraq, half woman and half beast, is flying over the garden of Paradise of birds, deer, flowers, and trees under the stars and the moon. On the lower right side is an archer with a bow raised. This depiction of Al Buraq with flora and fauna is reminiscent of scenes in Persian paintings.
The Diorama Experience of Philippine History
I was curious to see this gallery, which presents a comprehensive history of the Philippines in diorama form. However I was somewhat disappointed to find the dioramas much smaller than I’d expected and much more in number. I confess that I drifted past many of them, not taking them in fully if at all. But I did pause at those I found more interesting and managed to capture some by pressing my camera against the glass in front of them to minimise reflections. My photos therefore are of small sections of the full dioramas. If interested you can see all sixty on the museum’s website, from which my captions are all taken.
Diorama 2: Palawan Tabon Caves, c. 50,000-7,000 years ago
The earliest fossilised remains of Homo sapiens or modern man were discovered in 1962 by archaeologists at the Tabon Cave Complex in Palawan province. In 2007, even older human fossils dating back to 65,000 BCE were found in the Callao caves of Penablanca, Cagayan province.
Diorama 6: Agricultural Terraces, Ifugao, Circa 1150 AD
The Ifugao people of northern Luzon transformed the steep mountain slopes into arable land, with an ingenious irrigation system. Initially used for farming taro, the terraces were expanded later to grow rice for migrant lowlanders.
Diorama 27: Sunday Mass at Santa Ana, Manila, circa 1850s
One of the more evident signs of the success of Christianization and Spanish colonisation of the country was the regular attendance of Sunday mass. Residents, even from the most distant barrios, would make every effort to attend in their finest clothes.
Diorama 30: Introduction of the Tranvia, Manila, 1881
Improving on caretelas and calesas, the tranvias served as the first public mass transport of the fast growing city. They were horse-drawn passenger carriages that ran on tracks in the districts outside Intramuros.
Diorama 55: Japanese Forces Occupy Manila, 1942
Hours after the attack on the US naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Japanese planes bombed key sites in the Philippines. The Philippine Commonwealth was evacuated to Corregidor Island. On 26 December 1941, Manila was declared an ‘Open City,’ which meant defensive efforts were abandoned expecting that the invading army will not attack. Without the surrender of Filipino troops, the Japanese rained more bombs before marching into the city on 2 January 1942.
Zóbel: The Future of the Past
This was a temporary exhibition that was scheduled to finish around the end of January but was still there when we visited in mid February. It showcased paintings, sketchbooks, photographs, archival materials, films, and books that follow the artistic development of Fernando Zóbel de Ayala y Montojo. It was his later abstract work I found most appealing.
I visited the Ayala Museum in February 2025
23 Comments
Egídio
Wonderful trip, info, and photos you shared with us. Thanks.
Sarah Wilkie
Glad you enjoyed them, thank you Egidio 🙂
ThingsHelenLoves
So many beautiful things. I had a little chuckle at the idea of a man going off for a normal day at work and turning up the treasure. What a day that must have been!
Sarah Wilkie
Oh yes, that really made me smile too 🙂 It must have changed his life for sure!
Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter
I love the winged creature in the header with the cheeky smile! The buraq?
Sarah Wilkie
Yes, that’s the buraq 🙂 I was so surprised to see animal and human representations on a Muslim item.
Sue
Most interesting post, Sarah! The Ayala museum seems to have been an excellent place to visit. All that gold! and some very interesting art, I thinkFernando Zóbel de Ayala y Montojo’s images that you showed I rather worth a look.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Sue 🙂 I was impressed by this museum on the whole, and especially by the gold. I didn’t like Zóbel’s earlier or mid-period work so much but those monochrome abstracts appealed to me.
Monkey's Tale
What an unexpected treat in a modern building. The gold earrings look like some from the 80s 😊 I love the gold kinnari statue, I didn’t know about the horse version. Maggie
Sarah Wilkie
Yes, I felt some of that jewellery could almost be worn today! And I too loved the kinnari. Thank you Maggie 🙂
Easymalc
I didn’t realise that Manila is the world’s 4th largest city. In fact it came as a bit of a shock. I guessed that it wasn’t one of the world’s most delightful cities, but there’s always something of interest wherever you go isn’t there? And the museum looks like one of those places that is well worth a visit. It’s a shame the dioramas weren’t very big but they’ve always fascinated me.
Sarah Wilkie
I was surprised it was that high up the list too, but it certainly feels big when you’re trying to get around. However I think that fact may be incorrect having checked some other sources so I’ll remove it for now at least. Thanks for querying it 🙂
Easymalc
Remove my comment as well if you like Sarah if it suits
Sarah Wilkie
No, no worries, I’ll leave it be 🙂
Anne Sandler
What a great museum and thanks for sharing your experience with us. All that gold! We have many Filipinos living in our community, and one night they showcased their food and traditions. I love the food. They told us about their Filipino/American history. A few years ago, our small Jewish community put on a full Passover Seder. My Rabbi came and facilitated. Sharing traditions is so important.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Anne 🙂 We enjoyed a lot of the food in the Philippines and tried many traditional dishes. I agree, it’s important to share traditions and build understanding – and besides that, it’s also fun!
bushboy
Fabulous place. I always enjoy a museum visit and Ayala Museum is ever so good.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Brian 🙂 Yes, I was impressed!
restlessjo
It’s a rare old mix, isn’t it? I love the Kinnari vessel and that must have been quite some stash of gold. Amazing what ancient civilisations accomplished xx
Sarah Wilkie
It is a bit of a mix but very well-presented in a modern building. I loved that vessel too, and the gold bowls (this was the best of several we saw). The jewellery was amazing too – some of it you could probably wear today! Thanks for stopping by, Jo – I know you’re busy with visitors 😘 Having fun?
restlessjo
My daughter-in-law arrived with a back injury, Sarah, so life has been a bit difficult, but it’s lovely to all be together, thanks. xx
Sarah Wilkie
Oh dear – I’ve had back problems in the past, I know how debilitating they can be. I hope she feels better soon Sx
restlessjo
Thanks xx