A Critique of the Theme Park Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar Based on Some Principles of Heritage Conservation and Contending Perspectives

Abstract

Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar (LCFdA) is a heritage theme park located in the town of Bagac, in the province of Bataan. It sits on a waterfront 400-hectare property and boasts of more than 50 colonial and traditional Philippine architectural structures. This paper shows that LCFdA has at least five strategies for the building/rebuilding of its architectural collections: 1) acquisition and dismantling of old structures in various stages of ruin and their subsequent relocation and reconstruction, 2) acquisition and reconstruction of already demolished houses, 3) construction of partial replicas, 4) construction of full replicas, and 5) construction of entirely new structures modeled after colonial architecture. Using some pertinent international and national principles on heritage conservation, this paper analyzes the soundness of LCFdA’s five building/ rebuilding strategies. It contains three substantive sections: an elaboration of each of these five building/rebuilding strategies, an overview of the selected pertinent documents on heritage conservation, and a critique of each of the five building/rebuilding strategies. The paper aims to make a holistic evaluation of LCFdA’s treatment of Philippine architectural heritage.