TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan (PIA) - -  The Cagayan Museum and Historical Research Center has finally reopened its doors to the public.

The formal opening was held yesterday, June 26, with Cagayan provincial first lady Atty. Mabel Villarica-Mamba and museum curator Niño Kevin Baclig leading the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The new and improved museum boasts vivid and highly organized galleries from Cagayan’s prehistoric period up to the colonial era, including exhibits from the province’s ecclesiastical history. 

According to Baclig, the development of the museum is continuous in order to achieve a standard that all stakeholders— tourists, researchers and the academe, the cultural sector, and all Cagayanos, deserve.

Equipped with a preservation laboratory and equipment, the museum also features a library and archives that are accessible to the public. Moreover, the museum also holds frequent art exhibits, special galleries, and forums on Cagayan studies among others.

The opening program was attended by representatives of the local cultural and tourism sector, as well as those from museums across northern Luzon, which form a network where the Cagayan Museum is a part of. 

The Cagayan Museum, which was once the Casa Tribunal de Tuguegarao, is a part of the heritage tourism circuit of Tuguegarao City where one can visit historically significant structures such as the St. Peter’s Cathedral, the former Presidencia de Tuguegarao (now the Tuguegarao East Central School), and the Horno Ruins which all date to the Spanish colonial period.

The museum is open to the public on weekdays from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.(JKC/PIA-2/photos from Joshua Palolan/CMHRC)