Spain's golden age of discoveries began after the conquest of Granada; the discovery of the Philippines in the early 16th century was one more link to the glorious chain of Iberian conquests. On September 20, 1519, a fleet of five galleons under the command of Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator at the service of the Spanish Crown, set sail from San Lucar de Barrameda in search of the Spice Islands. They reached Samar, then Leyte and, finally, Cebu. It was in Cebu that Magellan took possession of the Islands in the name of the Spanish King, which Islands would be named Filipinas by Ruy Lopez de Villalobs in 1543.

Magellan's otherwise glorious career was cut short when he got involved with the rivalry between two native chieftains. On April 27, 1521, he met his tragic death in the hands of Lapu-Lapu while apparently trying to assert the power of Rajah Humabon.

Upon his arrival in Cebu, Magellan was said to have planted somewhere near the sea,, as regulated by the Ordenanzas, a big cross to symbolize the beginning of the Christian faith in the Archipelago.

The cross, traditionally known as Magellan's Cross, was encased in hollow tindalo in 1835 upon the order of the Augustinian Bishop Santos Gomez Maraflon to prevent devotees from taking it home chip by chip. The same bishop restored the present templete, or kiosk, located at the present Magellan street between City Hall and Colegio del Sto. Ni�.

Revered by the Cebuanos, the Cross of Magellan is hailed by tourists as a symbol of the beginning of Christianity in the Philippines.