At the far end of the main plaza in Vigan is the Burgos Museum. The musuem is named after the priest Fr. Jose Burgos, who was born here. Fr. Burgos, studied for the priesthood in Manila and became a champion of the Filipino clergy. This incurred the ire of the Spanish friars. After a mutiny was crushed, Fr. Burgos, together with two other priests, Fr. Mariano Gomez and Fr. Jacinto Zamora were implicated in the failed mutiny. They were all executed by gorrote, strangulation with an iron collar in 1872 at what is now known as Luneta. They so inspired the oppressed Filipinos that they the three were nicknamed Gomburza – after the surnames of the three priests.
Like the Crisologo Museum, this museum also contains memorabilia associated with Fr. Jose Burgos. The bedroom and even the dining area were dusty but still in good condition. It seems that there isn’t much funding going here, we actually had to come back to the Burgos Museum since there wasn’t anyone to watch over the place the first time. The place has an interesting mix of other stuff like dioramas of historical events. It even has some native stuff on display like a native rice grinder.
The museum isn’t really that big and can be explored in just under an hour. What is interesting is that it seems that Vigan seems to have a lot of these museums, compared to Manila which is just a dizzying maze of malls and people.
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