Magellan's Cross Monument Cebu City

       Magellan's Cross is a Christian cross of the Catholic faith which is housed in a small chapel in old Cebu City on Magallanes street close to the Basiclica Minore del Santo Nino [ doll of the Baby Jesus ] and not far from San Pedro Fort and Cebu Metroplitan Cathedral. '' Magallanes '' is Spanish for Magellan. It is a promoted tourist attraction because to the Cebuano it and their religion is important to them.

      The history is that when Ferdinand Magellan first arrived in Cebu on 21 April 1521 he erected a cross in Cebu. The cross there today is not the original. Magellan's Cross is one symbol of Cebu. This chapel's image can be found in Cebu city seal. It is also seen as the symbol of Roman Catholicism in the Philippines.

      Magellan and his crew were the first Europeans to arrive in the Philippines. They made the first conversions to Catholicism when they converted Rajah Humabon, the local chief, his wife and hundreds of his Cebuano villagers to accept Christianity and be consequently baptized. 

      At the same time Magellan left in Cebu the Santo Nino de Cebu [ holy child of Cebu ] a doll figure made in Europe in the 16th Century representing Jesus Christ as a child. This doll was rediscovered some 45 years later upon the return to Cebu of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi who came back to Cebu on the order of King Phillip of Spain to make Cebu the first center of the new Spanish Colony in Asia, called ''Las Islas Filipinas''. This doll also plays an important function in the religious life of millions of people as explained here.