The lapu-Lapu shrine is a 20 metres (66 ft) bronze statue in Punta Engano, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, erected in honor of Lapu-lapu, a native leader who defeated Spanish soldiers led by the Potuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in the 1521 Battle of Mactan.
(Magellan Marker Shrine)
(Lapu-lapu is also known under the names Cilapulapu. Si Lapulapu, Salip Pulaka, Cali Pulaco and Lapulapu Dimantag)
Lapu-lapu was a ruler of Mactan in the Visayas. Modern Philippine society regards him as the first Filipino hero because he was the first native to resist Imperial Spanish colonization. He is best known for the Battle of Mactan that happened at dawn on April 27, 1521, where he and his soldiers defeated Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan.
The battle ended up in the killing of Magellan and the end of his expedition and it delayed the Spanish occupation of the islands by over forty years until the expedition of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi in 1564.
LAPU LAPU SHRINE / MAGELLAN MARKER
The Lapu-Lapu Shrine is a 20-meter bronze statue located in the Mactan Shrine park in Punta Engaño, Mactan Island, Cebu. The statue was erected to honor Rajah Lapu-Lapu, the native chieftain of Mactan Island who defeated Ferdinand Magellan during the historic Battle of Mactan in 1521.
The Lapu-Lapu memorial statue is on top of a pedestal surrounded by a low-level fence and shows the Cebuano hero in his native costume with a sword on his right hand and a shield on his left.
The Lapu-Lapu Shrine is inside a plaza commonly known as the Magellan Shrine park that commemorates the events of the Battle of Mactan. Thousands of foreign and local tourists visit the park every year. The park includes the Magellan Shrine and a covered structure that houses a huge mural painting of the Battle of Mactan and a commemorative marker.