April 26, 2021

Baguio Museum: Home of Baguio’s Cultural and Historical Heritage

Updated as of April 26, 2021

If you’re interested to know about the cultural heritage and history of Baguio City, you could ask the locals—or you could go to Baguio Museum.

Baguio Museum stands for, upholds, and embodies the cultural and historical heritage of Baguio City. Inspired by Ifugao architecture, the museum is made of stone and wood featuring a striking pyramid roof and two huge concrete poles at the stair entrance that resembles a traditional Ifugao home with an elevated floor supported by posts.

This time-honored museum was built in 1975 at the corner of Governor Pack Road and Harrison Road. It was hit by a major earthquake in 1990 but was rebuilt after a decade to continue its purpose.

The architecture of Baguio Museum was inspired by Ifugao homes.

Dioramas inside Baguio Museum offer a glimpse of traditional Ifugao homes.

Baguio Museum houses various artifacts and educational clippings that let you learn about the history of Baguio and the lives of the different tribes in Cordillera.

On the main floor (second floor of the building), you can find an extensive display of various tribal artifacts from the six provinces of the Cordillera region: Benguet, Kalinga, Apayao, Mountain Province, Abra, and Ifugao. Baguio is part of Benguet province.

There are also miniature dioramas that give you a better picture of their communities. Also on the main floor is a real-life mummy in its coffin, which visitors are not allowed to take a photo of in respect of the dead.

The third floor is dedicated to the history of Baguio City. It is where you can see and read in detail the discovery of Baguio as a land of pine trees and its development into a civilized land. You can’t help but be amazed (or shocked) at the three architectural models, one of which shows Baguio as an untouched green land, a stark contrast to its current state where the number of structures is fast catching up with the number of pine trees.