Object description

Magellan's Cross is a Christian cross planted by Portuguese and Spanish explorers as ordered by Ferdinand Magellan upon arriving in Cebu in the Philippines on 16 or 17 March 1521. This cross is housed in a chapel next to the Basilica Menor del Santo Niño on Magallanes Street, just in front of the city center of Cebu City. A sign below the cross states that the original cross is encased inside the wooden cross made of tindalo wood. This is to protect the original cross from people who chipped away parts of the cross for souvenir purposes in the belief that the cross possesses miraculous powers. Some people, however, believe that the original cross has been destroyed or disappeared after Magellan's death and the cross is a replica that was planted there by the Spaniards after they successfully christianized the Philippines.