The Cebu Cathedral Museum, opened in 2006, is located in the business centre of Cebu City. It is an ecclesiastical museum dedicated the history of the Roman Catholic Diocese of the province. Inside, one can see exhibits relating to the religious life of the city and the island, many of which have been preserved from the Spanish colonial period.
The museum is located next to the Cebu Cathedral and near the Basilica of Santo Niño. Its collections are housed in a small building, which is itself is of historical value in itself - it was built in the early 19th century when the the Bishop of Cebu was Santos Gomez Marañon. It is, by the way, one of the few buildings of Cebu's city centre that survived World War II. Interestingly, Bishop Marañon was also the initiator of the construction of churches in the cities of Oslob and Naga, the Bishop's Palace in Cebu opposite the museum, the bell tower in the city of Argao and the monastery in Sibong.
The museum building originally housed the convent parish, then the San Carlos University faculty, a co-operative shop, and even a chapel until the Cathedral was closed for restoration. Today in the museum you can see a small chapel, which has become an exhibition hall for the collection of the church parish of the town of Carmen - here you can see tabernacles (cabinets in the wall of the altar for storing objects of worship) and ancient arks with silver engravings. This chapel is also often used for special exhibitions.
Along the staircase leading to the upper floors are several galleries. One features photographs and illustrations of how Catholicism spread on the island of Cebu. Another holds the personal belongings of Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, who once served as the parish priest of the Cebu Cathedral - his prayer books, notebooks and a cardinal's ring given to Vidal by his by his predecessor Julio Rosales. In the third gallery, you can see how churches were constructed churches during the Spanish colonisation of the island. Another gallery houses a collection of figurines a collection of statues of saints from various parishes, including a statue of St Joseph on his deathbed. Finally, the fifth gallery is a model of a priest's room.
There are plans to soon have a patio outside the museum building, which will include a small coffee shop which will house a small coffee shop and souvenir shop, with a garden around it.
