Property developer Megaworld Corp. is developing three new museums as a part of its strategy to integrate them in township developments across the country.
Megaworld Lifestyle Malls vice president for marketing and business development Tefel Pesignan-Valentino said in an interview at the sidelines of the launching of a museum in Binondo, Manila that three more museums would rise in Cebu City, Pampanga province and Pasig City.
Valentino said the museum in Cebu was expected to open in March 2021 in line with the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the Philippines by European explorer Ferdinand Magellan.
Megaworld on Friday launched the country’s first cultural museum dedicated to the “world’s oldest Chinatown” inside Lucky Chinatown Mall in Binondo.
Megaworld said the Chinatown Museum features 18 galleries with each focusing on various influences and historical events that shaped the cultural, social and economic threads of Binondo”•from its establishment as a settlement for Chinese to the height of downtown Escolta on its way to becoming a bustling commercial downtown of colonial Manila.
“It has always been our goal to integrate arts, culture, history and heritage in the overall character of our developments. With Lucky Chinatown being at the center of a community characterized by its rich history, we wanted to extend this passion for the arts and culture to the mall experience and eventually boost tourism in this part of Manila,” Megaworld chief strategy officer Kevin Tan said.
The new cultural landmark, recognized by the National Historical Commission and National Commission for the Culture and the Arts, is envisioned as a community space and heritage project that lends a visual retelling of the rich history of Binondo.
Chinatown Museum is the second museum venture of Megaworld following the opening of the Iloilo Museum for Contemporary Art at Iloilo Business Park township in Mandurriao, Iloilo last year.
“We conducted thorough research and consultations for this project, and we collaborated with members of the academe, respected historians and prominent figures in the community in order to provide an accurate and comprehensive representation of Binondo’s rich history. We went beyond a historical presentation of facts and we even developed the museum’s very own app to make it educational and at the same time entertaining especially to the young audience,” said Tan.
