NMI Museum reopens with fresh exhibits

Religious artifacts and the updated Concepcion Collection are some of the attractions at the newly-refreshed NMI Museum. (IVA MAURIN)

Visitors of the reopened NMI Museum of History and Culture can expect a fresh take on the CNMI’s rich history, dating from the Latte Period to the introduction of Catholicism, to the Galleon Trade to the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

The 93-year old NMI Museum, which is the old Japanese hospital, recently completed the first phase of its upgrades and has reopened its doors to the public with a facelift and some new attractions.

Among the new attractions are religious artifacts, including the 1934 Missale Romanum (a Latin Mass book), a chalice estimated to be nearly 100 years old, and a pre-war Monstrance of the Blessed Sacrament. The artifacts are on loan from Bishop Ryan Jimenez of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chalan Kanoa.

Twenty-five of the 156 pottery storage jars from the sunken galleon Nuestra Senora dela Concepcion are also on display as part of the museum’s Concepcion Collection. These jars were recovered in 1987 from the 2,000-ton, 45-meter long Manila galleon that sank in 1638.

For the Concepcion Collection, the NMI museum added large formatted vinyl pictures and new display cases, donated by Marian Aldan-Pierce and T-Galleria, to showcase the Spanish Galleon gold collections, said NMI Museum director Daniel Aquino Jr. These are the same gold pieces that the museum has displayed for years. Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang also helped the museum in the storage and in transporting the display cases.

“The Concepcion exhibit is about the Spanish period, when the Manila-Spanish trade routes were being established. We are fortunate enough that we are able to recover this. …This collection is exclusive to Saipan,” Aquino said.

Aquino added that the museum upgrades were necessary in order to continue attracting visitors, to improve the museum’s appeal, and to promote the museum as one of the must-see tourist attractions on Saipan.

The NMI Museum commissioned Guam Museum’s Gerry Dizon to update its exhibits.

“The NMI Museum is very fortunate to have Gerry Dizon come down because he was able to recruit helping hands from Guam that included Dededo Mayor Savares, Vangie Lujan and Edith Perez, and Annie Mesa Makepeace,” Aquino said, citing the long hours the group put in to complete the project.

The Guam Museum was contracted to execute this project for various reasons—the close proximity between Guam and Saipan, the reasonable costs to perform the refresh, the technical expertise, the in-house design team they had and because of the experience they possessed, having recently completed an over $1.5-million upgrade of the Guam Museum.

The complete refresh and upgrades will be performed in three phases.

Phase 1, which consists of the Concepcion Collection and the Seafarers, has already been completed. Phase 2 will be the completion of the Pre-Latte and Latte period, and Phase 3, will form NMI Museum’s communications facility (television/computer monitors) and the balance of the different periods that have not been refreshed. Phase 3 is expected to be completed by October 2019.

The NMI Museum is open Monday to Friday 9am to 4pm, and Saturdays at 10am to 4pm. For more information, call 664-2160.