🇵🇭 Philippines

  The Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral , officially known as the Metropolitan Cathedral and Parish of Saint Vitalis and of the Immaculate Conception (dedicated to Mary, under her title, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception and to Saint Vitalis of Milan), is the ecclesiastical seat of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Cebu in Cebu, Philippines. Cebu was established as a diocese on August 14, 1595. It was elevated as a metropolitan archdiocese on April 28, 1934, with the dioceses of Dumaguete, Maasin, Tagbilaran, and Talibon as suffragans. Before being raised as a primatial church in Cebu, the church was one of the first churches in the Philippines (besides the Basilica del Santo Niño) dedicated to St. Vitalis and built near the fort in April 1565 by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, Fray Andrés de Urdaneta, and Fray Diego de Herrera. Construction of the cathedral took many years due to frequent interruptions, brought about by lack of funds and other unexpected events. At one time, funds meant for t

  Fuerte de San Pedro is a military defense structure in Cebu (Philippines), built by the Spanish under the command of Miguel López de Legazpi, the first governor of the Captaincy General of the Philippines. It is located in the area now called Plaza Independencia, in the pier area of the city. The original fort was made of wood and built after the arrival of Legazpi and his expedition. In the early 17th century a stone fort was built to repel Muslim raiders. Today's structure dates from 1738 and is the oldest triangular bastion fort in the country. It served as the nucleus of the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. During the Philippine Revolution at the end of the 19th century, it was attacked and taken by Filipino revolutionaries, who used it as a stronghold. The fort is triangular in shape, with two sides facing the sea and the third side fronting the land. The two sides facing the sea were defended with artillery and the front with a strong palisade made of wood. T

  The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Plaza") is a Spanish colonial-era plaza in Cebu City. Various names have been used to refer to the Plaza Independencia throughout its history. In the 17th century, it was known as the Plaza de Armas and later the Plaza Mayor. In the later part of the Spanish colonial era in the Philippines, the civic space was referred to as the Plaza Maria Cristina, in honor of Queen Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies. Sometime during the American colonial period of the first half of the 20th century, the square was known as the Plaza Libertad. The plaza’s current name was adopted sometime before the start of World War II. The Plaza Independencia grounds feature a historic triangular fortification known as the Fort San Pedro. It also has a monument which was built in honor of Spanish navigator Miguel López de Legazpi, who also became the first Governor-General of the Philippines and a fountain. It also has other monuments dedicated to other figur

  The Basílica Menor del Santo Niño de Cebu , Minor Basilica of the Holy Child of Cebu, commonly known as Santo Niño Basilica, is a basilica in Cebu City in the Philippines that was founded in 1565 by Fray Andrés de Urdaneta and Fray Diego de Herrera. It is the oldest Roman Catholic church in the country, allegedly built on the spot where the image of the Santo Niño de Cebu was found during the expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi. This image of the Child Jesus is the same one presented by Ferdinand Magellan to the chief consort of Rajah Humabon on the occasion of their royal Baptism to Roman Catholicism on 14 April 1521. The image was found by a soldier named Juan de Camuz forty years later, preserved in a wooden box, after Legazpi had razed a local village. When Pope Paul VI made the church a basilica in 1965, he declared it to be the symbol of the birth and growth of Christianity in the Philippines. The present building was completed from 1739 - 1740 and was designated by the H

  MAGELLAN'S CROSS Planted on April 21, 1521, by Ferdinand Magellan, this marks the spot where the first Christian Filipinos, Rajah Humabon and Queen Juana, and about 400 followers were baptized by built Fr. Pedro Valderama. From 1525 to 1740, the Augustinian priests built an open shrine for the cross, but the natives began to take chips from the cross believing it had miraculous power. So a kiosk-like structure was built to protect the cross from total destruction. To protect it further, a hollow cross of tindalo wood was made to encase the original cross which still stands today. Magellan's Cross Pavilion is a stone kiosk in Cebu City, Philippines. The structure is situated on Plaza Sugbo beside the Basilica del Santo Niño It houses a Christian cross believed to have been planted by explorers of the Spanish expedition of the first circumnavigation of the world, led by Ferdinand Magellan, upon arriving in Cebu in the Philippines on April 21, 1521. Along with the Basilica

  Cebu City Officially known as the City of Cebu / Sugbo Tagalog: Lungsod ng Cebu), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines and the capital of the Cebu Province. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 964,169 people, making it the sixth-most populated city in the nation and the most populous in the Visayas. It is the regional center and primate city of Central Visayas and the seat of government of the province of Cebu but governed independently. The city and its metropolitan area exert influence on commerce, trade, industry, education, culture, tourism & healthcare beyond the region, over the entire Visayas, and partly over Mindanao. It is the Philippines' main domestic shipping port and is home to about 80% of the country's domestic shipping companies. Cebu is bounded on the north by the town of Balamban and the city of Danao, on the west by the city of Toledo, on the east by the cities of Lapu-Lapu and Mandau