Caida

The foyer or caida, is the traditional receiving area, where women would let the hemlines and trains of their saya (long skirts) down. During the 19th century, maidens had to clip their skirts to navigate the staircase.

The caida is also a drawing room for entertaining friends on ordinary occasions, with its assortment of furniture: espejos (mirrors), lounging chairs like the butaca, silla perezosa, silla frailuna, and Vienna bentwood sets. Caida is an all-in-one room where the family could dine, sew, and sometimes dance.

This area of the Museo highlights the 1880 architectural design. The ceiling is made of pressed metal sheets in aqua and red to blend with the hand-paintings on the walls. Large doors open up the mass of the room partitions, while authentic calado (pierced) arches, from the Santos-Joven-Panlilio house in Bacolor, Pampanga, circulate wind and light, and provide suggestive demarcations of halls.