The Asian Center Museum

The Asian Center Museum started as a museum laboratory of the then Philippine Center for Advanced Studies (PCAS). Inaugurated in 1973 under the purview of renowned Filipino anthropologist F. Landa Jocano, it was envisioned to provide instruction to students of Philippine Studies in the fields of ethnography and archaeology. The laboratory was located in a prefabricated structure behind Romulo Hall and contained photography equipment and a darkroom, which played a key role in the documentation and reproduction of ethnological surveys supervised by Jocano in the 1970s. During this period up to the late 1980s, a substantial amount of ethnographic objects notably from Muslim Mindanao and the Cordilleras was acquired. This collection was put on a public display organized by the staff of the Asian Center with assistance from the National Museum. 

Through the Memorandum of Agreement signed between the University of the Philippines and the Toyota Motors Philippines (TMP) Corporation in 2009, the Asian Center Museum is now housed at the GT-Toyota Asian Cultural Center (GTTACC). Composed of four galleries (Philippines Hall, China Hall, Japan Hall, and ASEAN Hall), a Collections Storage Room, Curator’s Office, and a proposed Conservation Room, the Museum continues to thrive as a repository of artifacts and images for visual education and as a center of culture and the arts. Its collection consists of a wide range of objects representing the various societies and cultures of the Philippines, from pottery, basketry, weaponry, farming and hunting implements, to clothing, textile, jewelry, body ornaments, and musical instruments. As a cultural center, the Museum hosts exhibitions of the traditional and contemporary art not only of the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific region, but of the larger world as well. These exhibitions complement diverse events held within the premises of the Museum such as performances, recitals, and book launches that fulfill the cultural program of the Asian Center.  

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