Galleon replica for new maritime museum in MOA

A life-size replica of an 18th-century galleon that plied the Manila-Acapulco trade route will be built for a new maritime museum at the SM Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City.
The plans were announced as delegates of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations marked the organization’s 50 anniversary last month.
The replica of the 18th-century galleon Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragosa will be built over 17 months starting immediately, simulating the way early Caviteños assembled the vessel from local wooden panels and pegs.
It will eventually be on display at The Galeón: Manila-Acapulco Galleon Museum.
“The galleon carried shipments from Asian countries other than the Philippines, with China, Japan, the United States, India, Cambodia and South Korea the main shippers in the Manila-Acapulco trade,” former Sen. Edgardo Angara, who conceptualized the museum, remarked at the opening ceremony held on Aug. 7.
The galleon is a joint effort between artisans of China and workmen from Cavite, Mindoro, Pangasinan and Bicol.
“The history of the galleon trade is not a history of one people or one country, it is a shared history,” said Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano.
The Galeón is a collaborative initiative by Angara, chair of the Museo del Galeón Inc., and former Ambassador of Mexico to the Philippines Tomas Calvillo Unna, with support from the private sector led by SM Prime Holdings, headed by Hans Sy.
The Sy family donated 8,000 square meters of space for the museum. It will also fund the construction of the four-story structure estimated to cost P600 million.
The museum will exhibit galleon trade artifacts loaned from various museums in different parts of the world and the Center for Pacific Trade and Cultural Studies, which will support the academic and research initiatives on the galleon trade, particularly within Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region.