Pinatubo Museum (in Holy Angel University)

The Pinatubo Museum was inaugurated on June 14, the day before the 25th anniversary of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.

The museum is housed at the University's Center for Kapampangan Studies, and is open to the public, according to Robby Tantingco, director of the Center.

The museum features a mural timeline of the history of Mt. Pinatubo, a mural sculpture by Kapampangan artist Arnel Garcia (see below), and various exhibits executed by researcher-artist Joel Mallari.

"The museum is our memorial to the 1991 event that profoundly altered the personal and collective destinies of Kapampangans," Tantingco said.

"What Kapampangans experienced has no parallel in world history, except maybe the ten plagues of Egypt in the Old Testament," Tantingco said. "We had an eruption, earthquakes, lahars, typhoon, rain of sand, ash and rocks, day turning into night--all at the same time! And it went on for the next five years."

The opening of the museum coincided with the launching of the book Our Common Fault: Stories of Loss and Survival in the July 16, 1990 Earthquake, authored by Lia T. Pangilinan and published by the Center for Kapampangan Studies.

"Last year was the 25th anniversary of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that left a swath of destruction from Central Luzon all the way up to Northern Luzon," Tantingco said. "The book is our memorial to all those who suffered or died in that earthquake."

The earthquake led to a series of geological events that caused Pinatubo's eruption one year later, Tantingco said. (edited from the Holy Angel University/Center for Kapampangan Studies Facebook Page)

See the Center for Kampangan Studies page for information on visiting the newest Museum.

Some photos from the opening, June 14, 2016:

Prayer in the courtyard of the Don Juan Nepomuceno Building

Performance by the Holy Angel University Chorale

The impressively disturbing sculpture titled "Lumud" ("Drown"),
by Kapampangan artist Arnel Garcia, dedicated to the
hundreds of people who died in the lahar flows of 1991-95.

Artist Arnel Garcia was pleased to be
told that his work was "disturbing."

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Created June 15, 2016