NMP Iloilo ‘Museolandia’ highlights International Museum Day

The National Museum of the Philippines Iloilo celebrated International Museum Day on May 18, 2026, with “Museolandia,” which encouraged interaction and play among museum visitors, in line with this year’s IMD theme, “Museums Uniting a Divided World.”

NMP Iloilo’s “Museolandia” offered various interactive activities for education, enjoyment, reflection, and knowledge sharing, all aligned with the exhibitions on geology and paleontology, natural history, archaeology, ethnology, and fine arts.

For a day, laughter, yells, and cheers were heard in the museum as visitors played Pinoy games such as piko, jackstones, sungka, and dama.

In the human-sized snakes and ladders game, visitors learned information about objects found in different galleries, reinforcing the information they had learned from the galleries.

In line with NMP Iloilo’s goal of making the museum an alternative learning space for one’s general well-being, a large puzzle and doodle wall encouraged visitors’ reflection and creativity.

“It is fun to see visitors from other places enjoying the same childhood games that the Ilonggos also played. ‘Museolandia’ is a call for appreciation of the shared heritage of Filipinos — be it in the games we played, in the weaving traditions of the regions, or in the natural environments we share,” said Maricyn De los Santos, head of NMP Iloilo.

International Museum Day is a celebration led by the International Council of Museums.

ICOM defines a museum as “a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets, and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible, and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally, and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection, and knowledge sharing.”