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| My brother with the portrait of Former President Elpidio Quirino. |
Syquia Mansion is the mansion owned by Former President Elpidio Quirino. Now it has been donated to the local government and is currently converted to a museum. Tourism is one of the biggest source of income of people in Ilocos, so they're preserving this as a national treasure, sharing it to tourists through offering tours.
The Tour Guide
When we got in the mansion, I saw an old guy who was seated and hurriedly went in another door, closing it behind him. We were staying there for few seconds wondering who is in charge. As more tourists came crowding in our space, the same guy who went inside the room was trying to gather us in one pack. Oh, so he was the tour guide. He was pretty feminine with his actions and speech so I figured he was gay. Not that there was nothing wrong with that. Anyways the way he managed the tour was pretty good. He was strict with the house rules: no taking pictures while the tour is ongoing, and the visitors should stick in one group.
According to him, the arrangement of the furnitures hasn't been change ever since the house was transferred to the local government. Reason behind is to easily pinpoint if something was missing in the house or not.
The golden jar right here was claimed to be given by the Emperor of china to the former president. It was said to be priceless since this one is original as proven by the emperor's seal at the base of the jar.
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| The peeping hole. |
Peeping holes were used to check the visitors at the ground floor. If they're approved, then they would be allowed to climb up the second floor, if not, then they'll remain downstairs. There's also another peeping hole carved through the master's bedroom. So the master could check whoever it is in the living area, if they're VIP's of some sort then they'll be allowed to enter the VIP room which is adjacent to this room above.
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| The VIP Room. |
The room is practically adorned by expensive furnitures that came from Europe and other parts of the country as a gift to the former president. Example of which is the golden mirror that was shipped from Europe.
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| A replica of the Spolarium painted by Gen. Luna's apprentice. |
Another feature in this room is a replica of the Spolarium, painted by the apprentice of Gen. Juan Luna. Although this one's a replica, the fact that it was a work of his apprentice, makes it really valuable. The original Spolarium is now hanged in our National museum and is so humongous that it eat up an entire wall in the huge museum.
Entrance Fee: Php 20/head
Tip: Php80
The old guy needs to get some extra tip for not only giving us information about our history, but also sharing some juicy facts on some showbiz issues related to the descendants of the former president. I wasn't really able to catch up since I don't meddle in the other people's business, but since the crowd was well entertained, and since he took a lot of pictures of us in different angles. Then boom! Hefty tip for you. :)
Woow, so much for museums. I need a breather, like getting my hands to work on some jars! :)
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