-
BUTUAN CITY (MindaNews/ 29 December)- The National Museum branch here has been temporarily closed to the viewing public due to repair and retro-fitting works.
George Abcede, the museum’s officer-in-charge, said the museum was closed sometime in November.
One of the major National Museum branches in the country and in Mindanao, the Butuan branch is regularly visited by domestic and foreign tourists and travelers.
It is also a favorite destination of students from the nearby regions as part of their history and tourism class exposures.
The museum houses two main sections—the anthropological gallery showcasing artifacts significant and unique to the country, and the Ethno-cultural gallery narrating the local cultural landscape.
The museum is expected to re-open in March 2013.
However, the museum park inside the compound that boasts of a lagoon surrounded by native palms and endemic trees is open free to the public.
The museum was established after the accidental discovery of archaeological materials by the City Engineering Office of Butuan City in 1974 while draining the water confined inside a man-made river system, according to www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph.
Succeeding excavations conducted by the National Museum yielded tremendous archaeological finds… The most significant find were the prehistoric Balanghai or Butuan boats that date from 4th to 13th centuries A.D., just five kilometers from the city proper, it added. (Ramon Jorge B. Sarabosing/MindaNews)