In celebration of International Museum Day, Ayala Museum opened up its “Where Is The Filipino?” tour on May 21, an interactive virtual tour across the Philippine archipelago that aims to answer what makes us “Filipino”. The limited slots for the guided tour on opening day was quickly filled up, but guests can still come on any time from May 22 to May 30 to take the self-guided tour.

As we’ve all been cooped up inside our homes for more than a year already, this may not be the “trip of our dreams”, but it does effectively bring us closer to the islands’ cultures from home.

The main thrust of the virtual tour is to introduce Filipinos to various indigenous and ethnographic groups by presenting the artifacts from the Ayala Museum collection, and where each of them came from. Over 100+ cultural objects are mapped out across the virtual Philippine archipelago, showcasing Filipino craftsmanship while also getting guests to learn more about all the different groups that make up the fabric of our national identity.

This virtual tour is hosted on Gather.Town, an 8-bit style social platform that gives guests free rein to roam around and control an avatar over a 2D map. In this case, it’s a map of the Philippines with various items plotted around for the guests’ perusal.

Interested “tourists” can come in solo or with a group of friends, but Ayala Museum reminds the public that the platform can only accommodate 25 users at a time, so some might need to log in more than once to earn a slot. Given the fact that the tour is gaining a lot of attention from Filipinos, it’s expected that a lot of people will be hopping in to take the tour for themselves.

Here are a few sneak peeks from Ayala Museum:

a sneak peek of our upcoming virtual tours:

this isn't just your regular zoom tour. 😉 pic.twitter.com/vwEQeAwPAq

— Ayala Museum (@ayalamuseum) May 18, 2021

Thanks to @gather_town's virtual spaces, we're able to map out 100+ museum objects across the Philippine map. 🗺️

It even allows you to tour with your friends (which we all miss) and control your own avatar!

✈️ Explore now: https://t.co/h4nUeTWsyE pic.twitter.com/35Y9Q5m28e

— Ayala Museum (@ayalamuseum) May 23, 2021

The general public is free to explore Ayala Museum’s “Where Is The Filipino?” tour right now, as it opened publicly over the weekend.

Ayala Museum is working with Globe to push this project forward, and it’s a great initiative to introduce and reintroduce the wonders of the Philippines to us Filipinos who might have forgotten a lot of it by now after a year of not being able to see it for ourselves. Although nothing beats the real thing, this virtual tour can still be a valuable tool in cultural appreciation and education for all of us.

Plus, it’s a fun, video game-like experience to navigate the map with an avatar and discover more about our country without spending a cent, or stepping a foot out the door. In the end, we might all be closer to defining what makes us “Filipino” after learning about the diverse cultures that shape our history, heritage, and collective identity.

Read through the Ayala Museum brochure here to learn more: https://www.ayalamuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/2021-Ayala-Museum-IMD-Brochure.pdf

Or, if you want to go ahead and dive into the tour, sign up for free here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1brecn1f0FpdOnoaKp6phq3BKt4RS2Ft1QEyoIEKahlA/viewform?edit_requested=true