It is rare that you can get to have a glimpse of history in a place as busy, commercial, and modern as a shopping mall. So I must commend SM Supermalls and the Metropolitan Museum of Manila for making such a thing possible as an effort to enlighten and hopefully educate mall-goers about Manila.
The exhibit is called “Manila: a city beautiful?”; it serves to show what Manila was back then and what Manila is supposed to be. Not just any city or a city suffering in decay, but rather, a city beautiful, a real “Pearl of the Orient” that was envisioned by its planner, Daniel Burnham.
Hopefully with the pictures exhibited there, you will get to understand the urban development (as well as the lack of it in recent times) and perhaps change your perception about the city.
The exhibit will run until June 9 at The Atrium at SM Megamall and will move to The Block at SM North EDSA from June 10-30. So please take time to visit the exhibit and hopefully be able to appreciate the city in a new way.
