Viewing Catholic Heritage at Cebu Cathedral Museum – Part II

In the first part of this post, I talked about the Carmen Collection and other pieces located in the first floor of the Cebu Cathedral Museum. Our tour guide then took us to the next part of the museum, which contains the most precious images and religious items that will surely catch the attention of thieves.

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Second floor of Cebu Cathedral Museum

Before we went to the second floor of the Cebu Cathedral Museum, our tour guide introduced us to this antique stairs:

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These are the typical stairs in the houses of rich people during the Spanish Colonial Period. You will know that you are entering a rich man's house if the stairs are made of expensive wood and the topmost step was plated with bronze or other metal, like these stairs.

The second floor of the museum holds images and religious items made of precious materials like ivory, silver and gold. Taking photos of museum pieces in the second floor was prohibited for security purposes. That’s why I don't have any photos of those items.

The most interesting part of the second floor of Cebu Cathedral Museum is the typical room of a Spanish friar. The room only contains a simple bed and the “baul” (chest). The baul is indispensible for missionary friars because it holds all of their belongings. Missionary friars moved a lot during those times, sometimes from on island to the next.

The last part of the tour is the visit to the garden located behind the Cebu Cathedral Museum. The simple garden showcases old bells made in the 19th Century. The bells are small compared to the giant bells in Manila Cathedral.

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Some of the bells came from Daan Bantayan, San Remigio and Santa Fe. Many of the bells already have cracks and were given to the museum before it is stolen by thieves.

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Aside from the bells, the Cebu Cathedral Museum's garden also showcases the car used by Blessed Pope John Paul II during his 1981 visit. The black car is bullet-proof to better protect the pope when he was traveling.
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That ended my tour in Cebu Cathedral Museum. It was a refreshing tour and I learned a lot of things. The tour guide and the crew of the museum are nice and approachable. I visited the souvenir shop of the museum to look for small image of the Santo Nino. After that, I went to Minor Basilica of Santo Nino to have a closer look at the holy image that is close to the heart of Cebuanos.

So, if you are a tourist and want to know more about Cebu, then I highly recommend that you visit Cebu Cathedral Museum.

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