The Magsingal National Branch Museum or the Museum of Ilocano Culture and Artifacts is a Philippine museum located 12.3 in the town of Magsingal, Vigan. The Magsingal Museum was formerly a convent of Spanish architecture built in 1676 which is restored and transformed into a museum in October 1982. It displays an ethnographic collection on the material culture and liturgical artifacts of the entire Ilocos Region. It is one of the branches of the National Museum of the Philippines and it is housed in the rectory of an old Spanish brick church in Magsingal, Ilocos Sur.

The olden times of the Museum

In 1977, Juan Manuel, the secretary of education at that time, requested that the superintendent of schools in Ilocos Sur turn the historic church rectory into a museum. It was one of the first branch museums of the National Museum that was set up in line with the Department of Education’s goal to set up more local and regional museums in the Philippines. In October 1982, the Magsingal National Museum Branch was formally opened to the public. The 1,170 square meter lot that the museum stands on was donated by the municipality of Magsingal on October 6, 1986. The local officials fenced the museum grounds in 1996.

Collections and Highlights of the Exhibits

Contemporary material culture of the Ilokano: pottery vessels in various forms and sizes; baskets; hanging flower vases; water containers; and a concrete potter’s wheel.

Indigenous material culture: fish traps and containers; agricultural implements such as harvesting knives and produce baskets; musical instruments made of bamboo; wooden bowls and plates; clothes made from sinamay, the famous Ilokano cloth made of pineapple fibers; religious items such as wooden rosaries and wooden icons.

Aside from the collections, here are some of the Museum’s highlights of the exhibits:
•  Sugarcane crusher or dadapila – a machine to which a carabao is hitched in order to crush the juice out of sugarcane
•  Tobacco dryer – it is a miniature form of the structure where tobacco leaves are dried. It is known as ‘pugon for the local people.
• Concrete potter’s wheel –a very rare item used in making large pottery jars for salted fish. These jars are locally called burnay pots. The potter’s wheel measures 105 cm in diameter.

Trip to Magsingal National Museum

From Manila, it takes approximately eight hours to reach Magsingal which is about ten kilometers away from Vigan City. Ilocos Sur has no airports. The nearest airport is the Laoag International Airport in Ilocos Norte, approximately a two-hour trip from Magsingal.

Accommodations to Vigan

There are many inns, pension houses and hotels located near their town center. My Vigan Home Hotel and Gordion Hotel are two of which will give you better accommodations during your days in Ilocos Sur.

My Vigan Home Hotel is located at 14 Plaridel corner Bonifacio Streets, Vigan (Ilocos Sur), Ilocos Region, Philippines 2700.

Gordion Hotel is located at V. Delos Reyes corner Salcedo Sts., Vigan (Ilocos Sur), Ilocos Region, Philippines.