2. Apolinario Mabini Shrine – PUP Campus, Sta. Mesa
 
Located at the heart of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Sta. Mesa is the Museo ni Apolinario Mabini at the Apolinario Mabini Shrine PUP, a contemporary and interactive exhibit that chronicles the life and times of Apolinario Mabini from his poor roots as a child, to becoming a distinguished scholar and lawyer despite his poverty and later, an iconic leader in the revolutionary movement against the Spaniards.Â
The pop-up picture book on the life of Apolinario Mabini.
Aside from artifacts from the life of Mabini, the museum also houses one of the country’s first stereoscopes– an interesting contraption that creates a three-dimensional optical illusion of a photo. Think early 3D in the 1890’s-2000’s!
My personal favorite however, was the wooden house structure, uprooted from its original site at Nagtahan and rebuilt on the PUP campus, that served as Mabini’s residence from his time as a law student to his last days. I’ve always had an affinity for old houses and this perfectly represents Filipino homes of the period.Â
While the poor families lived in mga bahay kubo and the wealthy lived in mga bahay na bato, the house was typical of middle-class families at the time, originally owned a relative of Mabini’s, who allowed the paraplegic scholar to live there when he was taking up law at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila. It retained some of the features of the bahay kubo, including the kitchen and bathroom, as well as the space below the house where the livestock are usually stored, but it was obviously sturdier than the kubo.
Kitchen area, typically located at the back of the house.
One more museum to whet your appetite for more history on the next page!
