- Amid the prevalent commercialism in Ayala Center lies a structure built for the love of history and art. Beside Greenbelt 3 is Ayala Museum, an art and history gallery at the corner of Dela Rosa Street and Makati Avenue in Makati City. Established in 1967, the museum started as a repository of Philippine history and iconography. Today, it features both fine arts and history, mainly artworks by the museum’s owner, Fernando Zobel, one of the premier multimedia artists in the country.
The first department of the museum is called “The Diorama Experience,” which features handcrafted dioramas narrating the highlights of the Philippine history such as the 1946 independence from the United States and the 1986 People Power Revolution. The museum’s boat gallery, called “Maritime Vessels,” showcases miniatures of various watercrafts used and being used by Filipinos for trade.
A division, called “Pioneers of Philippine Art: Fernando Zobel,” is solely dedicated to the life and works of the museum’s owner. There are also separate departments for the Ayala family’s collections of Pre-Hispanic gold art, embroidery, and Southeast Asian ceramics.
The museum also has its own souvenir shop and cafe-bistro, Museum Café or M Café, which boasts of stylish cosmopolitan interiors, modern interpretations of traditional Asian cuisine, a cocktail bar, late-night groove music and disco ambience, and an international crowd. The café overlooks a koi pond and a landscaped Zen-inspired garden.
Michael Cacnio
Brass gave his sculptures a bright high note in a room as it drew attention to the exquisitely shaped form. Brass also allied his work to the sumptuous qualities of ethic ritual, not so much decorative but elegant and graceful form. The brass in his sculpture celebrates the richness of color like precious material.
