Spain’s national naval museum, Museo Naval de Madrid, is located in the heart of the tourist district on the Paseo del Prado next to the famous art museum of the same name. Since 1932 it has been housed in the former Marine Ministry Building, currently the Spanish Navy General Headquarters. This hidden gem can be adequately toured in less than two hours and is well worth the effort. It makes a nice change of pace from the world-class art museums, tapas bars, sangria tasting (or guzzling), and flamenco dancing that accompany any trip to Spain’s capital.
The museum’s 24 exquisite rooms chronologically walk visitors through the history of the Spanish navy from 1492 to modern times, beginning with the monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella to Generalissimo Francisco Franco and King Juan Carlos I. (Curators may not yet have noticed that King Carlos I abdicated last year.) The displays present a wide array of period weapons, navigational instruments, maps, various naval artifacts, naval uniforms, and excellent Hollywood-style videos of New World explorations and conquests. One mainstay is the fascinating two-story life size replica of an 18th-century captain’s cabin complete with an extensive ship’s library. Model ship enthusiasts, however, will be the group most satisfied by their visit to the museum. Excellent scaled models of Columbus’ Santa Maria all the way up to modern destroyers and submarines range in scale from 1/72 to 1/6, the largest a galleon more than ten feet long from bow to stern.
The only non-Spanish ship model in the exhibit is the battleship Maine with an accompanying narrative (the only one in English) espousing the most recent and well-accepted theory that she was destroyed in Havana Harbor on 2 February 1898 due to an accidental boiler explosion igniting the magazine. (To learn more about the final resting place of the Maine’s sailors, see “Remembering the Maine in Key West,” pp. 56–61.) This event, blamed at the time on the Spanish, precipitated the Spanish-American War. The exhibit leaves no doubt that there was ever any Spanish culpability. But it fails to mention subsequent events regarding the conflict that followed, including Spain’s defeat; they have apparently been redacted from Spanish history in a way that would make the Generalissimo proud.
The museum’s official brochure states, “The Naval Museum manages to show through its exhibits the history of the Spanish Navy, its famous officers and naval battles.” However, two of the more significant naval engagements in history covered within the time period of the museum are omitted: The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and the Battle of Manila Bay during the 1898 Spanish-American War are nowhere to be found.
One of the more outstanding historical items in the museum’s collection is the Universal Chart by Juan de la Cosa from 1500. The piece is thought to be the oldest existing map that indicates the New World and encompasses the discoveries in America from 1492 to 1500. The chart is allegedly the first to depict Africa in its correct north-south orientation based on the voyages of Portuguese explorers. Asia, however, was still clearly a mystery to the cartographers of the early 16th century.
The highlight of my tour was the special exhibition, “The Last Voyage of the Frigate Mercedes,” the history of an 18th-century frigate that was sunk on 5 October 1804 by a British fleet off Cape Santa Maria, her hull filled with gold and cargo from Spain’s Viceroyalty of Peru. Salvaged in 2007 by a private U.S. treasure hunting company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, the riches in her hold became the focus of prolonged legal action between the company and the Spanish government (see “The Trouble with Treasure,” August 2010, pp. 18–25). The dispute was resolved in January 2012 by the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of the Spanish, resulting in an impressive exhibit of the ships artifacts that includes more than 1,000 gold coins displayed in the museum. Museo Naval’s special exhibition of the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes also highlights the importance of protecting underwater heritage and the use of naval historical archives, which were essential in obtaining a favorable ruling from the court.
The Mercedes exhibit concludes with a darkened room illuminating a life-size authentic reproduction of an interior section of the frigate mounting four large cannon. On closer inspection, the viewer will notice a mirror behind the display and that there are only two cannons. Further observation indicates a second mirror perpendicular to the first, revealing that in fact there is only one cannon in the display.
After leaving the Naval Museo, our party made a day trip to the Royal Palace in Aranjuez, where the Tajos River calmly abuts the Royal Gardens. A beautiful fleet of royal white swans sailed passed us in perfect formation. At last, the Spanish Armada had made an appearance. I immediately pointed and exclaimed, “El Espanola Armada! El Espanola Armada!” Our Spanish tour guide was not amused. No doubt, neither would be Franco.
Museo Naval de Madrid
Paseo Del Prado, 5, 28014 Madrid, Spain
Phone: +34 915 23 87 89
Open Tues.–Sun., 1000–1900 (In August, 1000–1500)
Admission: 3€ (with photo ID)
Free guided tours Sat. at 1100
www.armada.mde.es/museonaval
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