The University of Santo Tomas Museum of Arts and Sciences, the oldest existing museum in the Philippines, started as a “Gabinete de Fisica,” an observation room of mineral, botany and biology collections in the 17th century. Under the old Spanish educational law the collections were used as classroom materials for the courses in science especially in medicine and pharmacy.

The university is proud of the museum’s collections, meticulously gathered and preserved for over three hundred years in the Main Building, the collections then grew with the inclusion of significant objects of culture and arts, displayed in the way museums were conceived before: as a storage house.

At present the concept of the museum has evolved from a mere repository of collections to and active agent of promoting the cultural heritage of humanity. With the new paradigm the museum envisions itself to be:

• An undisputed center of cultural heritage dynamism;
• A center of global excellence in Cultural Heritage Studies by the year 2005; and
• An auxiliary venue for continuous learning and appreciation of Thomasian and Filipino heritage.

Entrusted to be the center of the University’s visual art and cultural property the museum commits itself to:

• Safeguard the collections and make it available for active educational activities and participative appreciation of the global audience;
• Pursue and educational role in Cultural Heritage and museography;
• Inculcate awareness through its tasks of collection, education, information, research and conservation; and
• Be a unique instrument in the evangelization of the University.

UST Museum of Arts and Sciences’ opportunities to create programs in the following areas of concern:

• Development of facilities
  • The transformation of the hall to its original purpose as a “paranimfo”- and alternative venue for arts and cultural exchanges
  • Conservation Laboratory Expansion
• Organizational restructuring and museum staff professionalization
• Collection Assessment and Cataloguing-Collection Management Upgrading
• Offering in the Philippines, the first formal course in Cultural Heritage Studoes initiated by the Museum and the UST Graduate School in the AY 2000-2001
  • Graduate Diploma in Cultural Heritage Studies Programs recently opened this AY 2000-2001
  • Master in Cultural Heritage Studies 2001-2003
  • Certificate Program in Cultural Heritage Studies
• Establishment of the pioneering Conservation Center for Cultural Property in the Tropics in the University’s St. Thomas Aquinas Research Complex with the objectives to:
  • To promote an atmosphere conducive to provide opportunities for research led by the graduate program;
  • To conduct exchanges in research and collaboration in projects among the professions responsible for the care of the cultural heritage and related activities in the tropics;
  • To render services by providing consultation, survey and technical assistance to institutions, conservators and students;
  • To disseminate information and promote a deeper understanding of conservation and care of cultural property and environment in the tropics through conferences, seminars, training and publication.
    
    In reaffirming its commitment to the community and drawing inspiration from its deeply shared Filipino cultural heritage and identity, the UST Museum in fulfillment of its mission is an active agent for development, preservation and promotion in partnership with:
    
    • Forum UNESCO “University and Heritage”
    • Philippine National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA)