New QC museum celebrates Tandang Sora, Filipino women power
Dedicated to Melchora “Tandang Sora” Aquino, Quezon City’s newest museum in Tandang Sora village celebrates not only the hero but also other Filipino women and their significant contributions to Philippine nationhood and identity.
Opened on Jan. 6, the supposed 213th anniversary of Aquino’s birth, the Tandang Sora Women’s Museum is a project of Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte with the support of the office of Sen. Risa Hontiveros.
The museum was designed by architect Gerard Lico and his team at Arc Lico, with curation by visual artist Sandra Torrijos.
It is housed in a two-story bahay na bato-inspired structure at the Tandang Sora Shrine in an area called Banlat, part of Caloocan when the heroine was born in the 19th century.
New findings by historian Jim Richardson posits the year of her birth at around 1836.
Among others, the museum houses contemporary art highlighting Filipino women and their achievements as well as artifacts owned personally by Tandang Sora.
Listed in the latter are her araro (plow), bilao (circular basket), and mortar at halo (mortar and pestle), pangaras (harrow), and salakot (sun hat).
The permanent galleries are located at the second level of the museum, while temporary or rotating exhibition spaces are housed on the first level.
The structure is a renovated edifice with an addition of an extension building, all executed by Lico’s firm.
A tribute
In an interview with Lifestyle, Lico said the museum “offers visitors a chance to appreciate and draw inspiration from the depths of her patriotism as a woman and revolutionary.”
It likewise documents the critical roles played by Filipino women in the country from the precolonial to the contemporary periods.
Lico added that “it offers access to materials highlighting women’s rights and freedom struggles (and) stands to pay tribute to the countless women from different walks of life who have dedicated their lives and talents to uplifting the status of Filipino women.”
For Belmonte, the contents of the museum symbolize and describe the bravery, in different fields and aspects, of women like Tandang Sora.
Des Inosanto’s painting of iconic Filipino women, one of the exhibited works, perhaps best describes the museum.
It features Tandang Sora cradling a child (symbolizing the future) at the center and surrounded by women icons in the Philippines including Kalinga tattoo master Whang-od Oggay, heroine-scientist Maria Orosa, former President Corazon Aquino, National Artist for Film Nora Aunor, Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, and Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz.
According to Lico, the completion of the site’s main public areas took only two months. The recent opening was attended by local government officials led by Belmonte, the curatorial and design teams, Hontiveros’ representative Romy Gumba, Sr. Mary John Mananzan, OSB, and other important guests.
Guests were given a tour of the exhibition spaces and galleries that reflect women power with Tandang Sora as the centerpiece.
Born in Banlat, Tandang Sora was known as the mother of the Andres Bonifacio-led Katipunan. She fed and nurtured wounded members of the movement during the 1896 revolution.
Due to her role, she was arrested by Spanish authorities and exiled to Guam in 1896. In her 60s, she was freed by the Americans in 1903 and returned home the same year.
She died on Feb. 19, 1919 and was buried at the Mausoleo de los Veteranos at the Manila North Cemetery.
On Jan. 6, 1970, her remains were transferred to Himlayang Pilipino in Novaliches, Quezon City, and again transferred to what is now the Tandang Sora Shrine on Jan. 6, 2012.
