The National museum of Anthropology, Manila, Philippines.

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National Museum of Anthropology

Top choice in Manila


Within a resplendent neoclassical building, this superb museum houses a vast and varied collection, including the skullcap of the Philippines’ earliest known inhabitant, Tabon Man (said by some to actually be a woman), who lived around 24,000 BC. A large section of the museum is devoted to the wreck of the San Diego, a Spanish galleon that sank off the coast of Luzon in 1600, with salvaged items such as shell-encrusted swords, coins, porcelain plates and jewellery on display.

Other treasures include a large collection of pre-Hispanic artefacts and musical instruments, and displays on indigenous textiles.


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