As part of the upcoming 36th International Map Collectors Society (IMCoS) symposium this month, Ayala Museum presents Insulae Indiae Orientalis, an exhibition featuring a collection of rare antique maps from as far back as the 16th century – the heyday of the search for spices, as well as the Golden Age of Exploration. According to IMCoS Philippine representative and exhibition curator Rudolf JH Lietz of the Gallery of Prints, “I am very happy to present to you and exhibition of over 150 maps and prints, accompanied by originals lent by presenters from Manila and overseas, fellow members of the Philippine Map Collectors Society (PHIMCOS), and institutions like the Malacañang Museum.”

As stated in the title, the exhibition features maps and prints covering the islands of the East Indies as perceived by cartographers and explorers of the period. The highlight here is the Murillo Room, possibly the largest collection of maps drawn by the Spanish Jesuit Fray Pedro Murillo, assisted by Filipinos Francisco Suárez and Nicolas de la Cruz Bagay in the mid-1700s. Here, the Mother of all Philippine Maps – the 1734 Murillo Velarde map of the Philippine archipelago along with relevant maritime routes, depictions of different ethnic groups, as well as cartographic descriptions of key provinces – has pride of place. This is flanked by later Murillo editions and derivatives drawn by other cartographers.