Discovering Philippines - Spanish Archives

     In 1998 there was an exhibition at the Center for Historic Studies of Public Works and Town Planning,  a sub-agency of the Centro de Estudios y Experimentación de Obras Públicas (CEDEX), in Madrid Spain.   The exhibition, called "Manila 1571-1898, The West in East", featured 25 panels describing the Spanish influence on its colony in Asia using maps, drawings and photos from that period.  Besides the actual exhibition, a virtual exhibition was available on the CEDEX website in Spanish and English.  Both exhibitions have since ended.

     Most of the maps, drawings and other images used in the exhibit can only be found in the libraries and archives in Spain.  If there are books available with this many illustrations, I haven't come across them.   After noticing that the link to the exhibition was "dead", I decided to recreate it here for students and anyone interested in Philippine history.  I didn't think the online exhibition would be available for long so I saved it.

     The original pages and illustrations weren't copyrighted and I only make claim to this particular web-version.  Except for correcting some spelling, the text on the panels is the same as the original on-line exhibition.  So my disclaimer is that the viewpoint is not mine and I make no claims about the accuracy of anything written or displayed. For a description of the 1998 exhibition, see CEHOPU.

Warning! Each panel has about a dozen images so modem connections beware. Total page size shown.

A few panels to get started:

Index of the Exhibition

  1. Seville, a Universal City
  2. A World Linked by the Sea
  3. The Longest Transoceanic Route
  4. Sailing On and On
  5. Ships, Galleons, Frigates and Corvettes
  6. Defending the Sea and the Land
  7. The "Virreinato" of New Spain
  8. The "Cuadrícula"
  9. The Pacific Route to the Orient
  10. The Philippines, an Asiatic Archipelago (449kb)
  11. A "Well-Ordered" City Emerges (448kb)
  12. Manila "Intramuros" (455kb)
  13. Defence and Fortification (499kb)
  14. Beyond the Walls (492kb)
  15. The "Gran Manila" (602kb)
  16. The "City of God": Churches, Convents and Monasteries (594kb)
  17. The Cathedral: Enduring and Standing (519kb)
  18. Bahay-na-cubo, Bahay-na-bato: Houses of Nipa Palm, Wood and Stone
  19. Government and Administration (397kb)
  20. The River and the Sea: Bridges, Ports and Lighthouses (490kb)
  21. Railways, Waterways, Stone-Ways (294kb)
  22. Markets and Factories (311kb)
  23. Teaching and Health Care (445kb)
  24. Philippines is Not Only Manila (569kb)
  25. Orange Blossom Going, Cinnamon Returning (346kb)

Discovering Philippines Copyright © 2004 Robert S. Gardner