1980-2013: Replacement of the Original Monument
Point Loma's Cabrillo Monument receives hundreds of thousands visitors annually. However, the majority of these people do not realize that the statue standing there today is actually a replica. It is unknown by many that the original Cabrillo Monument sculpted by Alvaro de Bree is now located in Ensenada, Mexico.
Around the mid-1980's, there was talk of replacing Alvaro de Bree's Cabrillo Monument. This was because the sculpture had been weathered and vandalized from its placement outside. Multiple groups including the Portuguese government, San Diego citizens, and the National Park Service argued that there should be a new replica made.
1987: The Portuguese government decided that João Charters de Almeida e Silva should be the artist to recreate the monument. He sculpted the replica in Portugal and finished his work in late 1987. From there, the new Cabrillo Monument was brought to San Diego by ship in the care of the Portuguese Navy.
Cabrillo Statue Plaque
This plaque is located at the Cabrillo Museum in Point Loma. It explains how the original monument was replaced by a new sculpture done by João Charters de Almeida e Silva in 1988.
After the replica of Cabrillo was displayed in San Diego, the original monument was unfortunately forgotten about and neglected for decades.
2010: However, in 2010, the mayor of Ensenada formally requested to have the original Cabrillo Monument moved down for public display there.
The citizens of Ensenada supported this because their city also has historical ties to Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. While many people in the United States recognize Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo for being the first European explorer to discover San Diego in 1542, his discovery of Ensenada Bay in Mexico is often overshadowed. Cabrillo was in Ensenada just 11 days prior to his landing in San Diego. Due to his presence on the coast of Mexico, the people of Ensenada wanted de Bree's monument as a reminder of how he impacted their city.
2011: In the beginning stages of this request around 2011, it was stated that "the statue was the property of the U.S. Government, hence it could be loaned but not donated or sold." [1] Eventually, both the United States and Mexico agreed on a twenty-year loan of the monument.
After about two decades of neglect, the original Cabrillo Monument was finally being cleaned up and prepared for its transport to its new home in Mexico. During its preparation, it was said that "the bottom third of the wooden crate was so filled with rat and bird droppings that [the person responsible for cleaning it] had to wear a hazmat suit." [2]
2012: On December 28, 2012, the statue began to be moved 90 miles from San Diego. De Bree's Cabrillo was so out of shape that many were worried if it would even survive the trip down to Mexico. Tom Workman is the current Park Superintendent of the Cabrillo Monument in San Diego and was present during this process, along with a Park Historian by the name of Robert Munson. Both Workman and Munson were among the various individuals that expressed their doubts about the monument, and they both actually believed that the original Cabrillo would never survive the trip to Ensenada. [3]
2013: However, despite the odds, it did successfully arrive in its new home city. After finally landing in Ensenada at the Riviera Cultural Center, the monument underwent a number of repairs starting in March of 2013.
De Bree's Cabrillo remains standing in this same spot today.
[1] John Martin, “A Tale of the Cabrillo Statues,” The Journal of San Diego History (San Diego History Center), accessed April 20, 2023, https://sandiegohistory.org/sites/default/files/journal/v60-4/v60-4martin.pdf, 286.
[2] John Martin, “A Tale of the Cabrillo Statues,” The Journal of San Diego History (San Diego History Center), accessed April 20, 2023, https://sandiegohistory.org/sites/default/files/journal/v60-4/v60-4martin.pdf, 287.
[3] John Martin, “A Tale of the Cabrillo Statues,” The Journal of San Diego History (San Diego History Center), accessed April 20, 2023, https://sandiegohistory.org/sites/default/files/journal/v60-4/v60-4martin.pdf, 288.