National Museum of the Philippines - Cebu

This guide to the National Museum of the Philippines - Cebu traces the building from its 1910 start as the Aduana, Cebu's customs house designed by American architect William Parsons, through nearly a century of counting cargo at the port, and on to its unexpected 2004 conversion into an official presidential residence for the Visayas. It covers the 2013 earthquake that cracked its walls and floors and left it condemned, and the National Museum's twenty-five-year agreement that followed. Look for the capis-shell window panels and the central tower with a view clear to Mactan Island.