National Historical Commission of the Philippines recognizes and protects four Spanish colonial period ancestral houses of families prominent in Carcar history, culture, commerce, political and religious life
CARCAR CITY, CEBU May 29, 2010 – Four of Carcar's largest and oldest ancestral houses from the Spanish colonial period -- Balay na Tisa, Ang Dakong Balay (Don Florencio Noel House), the Mercado Mansion and the Silva House get recognition and protection as heritage houses in ceremonies today in Carcar by top officials of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (formerly the National Historical Institute) to culminate May's National Heritage Month activities in Cebu.
The Hon. Ambeth R. Ocampo, National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) chairman, will unveil and turn-over four heritage house markers to the owners of Carcar Spanish colonial ancestral houses dating from the mid-19th century that belong to the descendants of the Sarmiento-Osmeña family, the Noel family, the Mercado-Lucero family and the Silva family.
The four houses are the first Carcar ancestral houses to have heritage house makers installed on their front facades while they are also the first privately-owned houses in south Cebu province recognized as national historical landmarks protected by law by the the NHCP.
The houses are significant for their architectural details, cultural influences and heirloom furnishings while many historical events and visits by historical personalities took place in each house. Leading members of each family were also town leaders who made lasting contributions to Carcar and Cebu province's cultural, commercial, political and religious life.
Carcar has the largest number of built heritage structures in Cebu province with many of its Spanish and American period ancestral houses and public and religious landmarks concentrated on its hilltop plaza and its old town center. The majority of its heritage structures were built during Carcar's “Golden Age” from the American colonial and Philippine Commonwealth periods. During this time, before the outbreak of the Second World War in Cebu, Carcar became the “cradle of Cebuano culture” as architecture, art, music, literature and theater flourished and shaped Cebuano cultural identity.
The Carcar Heritage Conservation Society (CHCS) is a non-government organization founded in 2002 composed of heritage house owners, business people, professionals and concerned fellow Carcaranons dedicated to saving Carcar's unique tangible and intangible heritage of buildings, monuments, sites, culture, arts and cultural industries to benefit all Carcaranons now and into the future. |
