The El Deposito Reservoir Is Opening to Visitors on August 30
This August, we'll finally be able to visit the country's largest Spanish artifact. El Deposito is one of the oldest underground reservoirs in the world. Located in San Juan, it was built in 1882 to supply water to Manila's residents. During the American and Japanese occupations, it was used as an armory and, in later years, as a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients.
Restoration work began in 2016, and the reservoir was originally slated to open in March 2020. However, the onset of the pandemic put this plan on hold. This year, the El Deposito reservoir will finally be open on August 30, the same date on which the Battle of San Juan took place in 1896. This is especially fitting since the Spaniards took shelter in the El Deposito building while under attack from the Katipuneros.
Museo El Deposito opened in 2019 and contains all sorts of artifacts related to the reservoir's history. It has three galleries: an audio-visual room, a resource center, and a virtual reality room. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday to Sunday. In order to comply with IATF regulations, it is accepting a limited number of visitors only. You can schedule museum visits for groups of up to five people via its website or Facebook page.
If you'd like to book a tour of the reservoir in advance, you can do so using the same Google form. Museo El Deposito will accept tour groups of six to 10 people. There's no entrance fee for the museum or the reservoir, but donations are encouraged.
In the meantime, you can view artifacts discovered during the restoration of the reservoir in Museo El Deposito's Facebook post below.
With El Deposito playing a significant role in our history from the Spanish era to the Japanese occupation, visiting sites like these reminds us of the sacrifices our ancestors made for our freedom.
