The Embassy of Spain in Manila—through Instituto Cervantes and its Cultural and Education Offices—starts off the month of August with a talk on the Filipinos´ growing interest in their Spanish heritage amid enduring narratives about the Philippine experience under the Spanish Crown.
Photo: Instituto Cervantes
In his talk Why Does the “Black Legend” Persist? Three Myths, Fernando Zialcita, anthropology professor at the Ateneo de Manila University, will examine traditional narratives about the country´s past under the Spanish Monarchy and propose a more nuanced understanding of this shared history. The discussion will be delivered in Spanish on August 11 at Instituto Cervantes in Intramuros.
On August 19, the Instituto Cervantes in Intramuros will host the launching of the book Mosai-KO, a compilation of 15 stories by children of immigrant Filipino families in Barcelona. The narrators, aged 11 to 24, take the reader through the streets of the neighborhood of El Raval, showing that they not only observe their surroundings, but also sense the character of the place they call home.
Heading to Baler in Aurora? The newly-opened National Museum-Baler is worth a visit. Inaugurated on June 30 as part of the commemoration of Philippine–Spanish Friendship Day, it features a gallery dedicated to the enduring ties of friendship, history and cultural exchange between the Philippines and Spain.
Exhibits are a mainstay on the cultrual calendar of the Embassy of Spain. Several may still be viewed: Buen Camino at the Museo San Agustín in Intramuros; Melodías del pensamiento (Melodies of Thought) by renowned photographer García de Marina at Instituto Cervantes in Intramuros; and Embracing the wind, Cradling the water by Crisitna Mejías at UP Vargas Museum.
The Centro de Turismo in Intramuros continues to host Manila Calling and Four Centuries of Spanish Engineering Overseas, while Madrid-based street art collective Boa Mistura´s mural TAGPUAN remains an attraction in Fort Santiago.
The exhibition Returning to Manila: The Galleon Trade in Maps, a collaboration with Spain´s Instituto de Historia y Cultural Naval and the Archivo Histórico de la Armada “Juan Sebastián Elcano”, is still on display at the Museo del Galeón in Mall of Asia.
