Exposición de Filipinas de 1887. Contribución de los Agustinos

Abstract

The Exhibition of the Philippine Islands in the “Retiro” Park of Madrid in 1887, has been the most important ever realized about the Filipino Archipelago. In these research, first of all, are presented the different aspects of the exhibition: the promoter, the place where was celebrated, the participation of the Filipino people, the solemn opening with the presence of the Regent Queen, the different sections, and the prizes given to the main participants. In the second part is studied the participation of the Augustinian Friars at three levels: as religious institution were represented by Fr. Manuel Díez and Fr. AgapitoAparicio and the “Flora de Filipinas” of Fr. Blanco, Fr. Mercado and Fr. Llanos; at personal level 20 Augustinian friars participated as exhibitors; at bibliographical level were exhibited in Madrid books written by ten different Augustinian Friars. In the third part is shown the strong relationship between the Exhibition of the Philippines of 1887 and the increasing of works of art and ethnography in the “Museo Oriental” of theAugustinian Friars of Valladolid (Spain). To these institution were send most of the items of the 20 Augustinians, and also the collection of 785 works of art of Manuel Scheidnagel, bought by the Augustinians in 1890. Finally, is shown that the interest of theAugustinian Friars for the ethnology, art, culture and science is one of the aspects of his work of evangelization in the Philippines. The study is completed with 87 illustrations related with the text.