Quezon City Experience Museum, Quezon Memorial Circle
Move Over Mind Museum, QCX Is Here. The phrase is bold, but I am serious. The Mind Museum held a beautiful place in Manila dwellers hearts for a long time and has served and continues to serve its beautiful purpose. It's a great place to walk to if you live in BGC and the out door science park is serious fun! However, it is not a place you can return to often if you are on any type of family budget. (Except I did manage to find a way to purchase discounted family passes) So, when I went into a very unknown-to-me museum and was completely floored by it's near perfect execution I was overflowing with encouragement and so pleased for the 100php entrance fee. Quezon City Experience or QCX is Worth. Every. Peso.
For a city that runs on social media, so many gems are hidden under a rock. With a city as dense as our this isn't surprising. However, for me the exploring ignites a fire in me. Fuels me to seek deeper and adventure more. Lucky for me, I have a great community on social media and they will often share places to visit. I love how much Filipinos love their home, with good reason. I am so grateful they share their gems with me. Sharing is caring. Exploring is happiness.
The grounds at the QCX are well manicured and clean and are lined with picnic tables. I highly recommend a picnic here. *The grounds near the monument are not as tidy.
The second exhibit can be scary as it represents an ancient myth about a female ghosts and depicts various war scenes.
Again, I was floored with the beauty and excellent curation of the museum. This was the architecture exhibit show casing the unique buildings and their creators that incorporate Quezon City. It was marvelous!
The Projects exhibit was so captivating! There was a huge real estate boom in terms of neighborhoods in Quezon City. It was so interactive to walk through an era of time when all this was sprouting.
Apparently, you can never go to enough jeepney museums. My boys loved driving and crawling all over the jeepney. While they played I was educated about jeepney culture. It was so enthralling to learn the whole culture, even about the music! One of my favorite aspects of this museum is how interactive it is. They executed it so well.
The Education exhibit was another big hit! The classroom has an interactive tv where you learn about Filipino education. Again, so hands on! The Library/University exhibit could have been my favorite spot. The large mural made my heart flutter. The Alice in Wonderland-esque book piles, statues and another interactive screen were breathtaking. Gah, I want to go back already.
Filipino Life section included it all: food, hair cuts, construction and so much more.
Since Quezon City is the capital for radio and tv it had it's own exhibit with a small cinema, green screen, make up room and live weather station where the kids could be a host or a camera man.
Not being ignorant to the messy issues of life, art installations expressed concern for the over abundance of children in a classroom, harsh weather conditions and corruption in real estate. On of my favorite installations was this pictograph of all the different barangays in QC and how they got their name and what they are famous for. It was SO fun to read. This would make an awesome art poster. Lastly, the experience closes with a futuristic movie projecting what life in Quezon City can be like in future decades. I loved watching this dream unfold. Since we were so close, we had to stop and see the shrine. It is big and beautiful. I just wish the grounds around it were a bit cleaner.
Things To Know:
Quezon City Experience is open Tues-Sat 9 am - 5 pm. I always suggest calling ahead. We went on a day when there was a private event (not indicated on website) and I had to beg to be let in.
Contact: 6923332 email: qcx.marketing@gmail.com
Pack a lunch and have a picnic.
Near the shrine there are vendors who sells snacks and ice creams. There is also a really great plant section at the circle.