The installed holographic pyramid completes the expository discourse of the exhibition ‘Science versus plundering. Campaigns at the site of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes’, open to the public until January 13, 2019
The ARQUA National Museum of Underwater Archeology, under the Ministry of Culture and Sports, has incorporated a hologram from the Santa Bárbara canyon to its temporary exhibition ‘Ciencia frente a expolio. Campaigns at the site of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes’. The new museographic device comes to complete the expository discourse of the exhibition, open to the public until January 13, 2019.
Installed in the audiovisual space of the exhibition, it allows a 3D visualization of an infographic on one of the culverins that are the protagonists of the 2017 campaign. Through various camera movements, the Santa Bárbara canyon floats in view of the visitors, presenting Its main points of interest and allowing to travel the piece in all its perimeter.
The new holographic pyramid complements other resources that are included in the same exhibition, such as the scale reproduction of the cannons recovered in the 2107 campaign. They were made thanks to the 3D digital scanning project that was carried out on both pieces and that will facilitate the investigation of them in the future. It has been produced entirely by the Technological Research Support Service (SAIT) of the Polytechnic University of Cartagena.
The fight against the expoliation of the underwater cultural heritage
The exhibition ‘Science versus expolio. Campaigns at the site of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes’ presents to the public for the first time pieces extracted in the excavation campaigns carried out by the Museum. The exhibition speech begins with an introduction about the plunder to which the Spanish underwater cultural heritage has been subjected during the 20th century, which serves to contextualize the exhibition.
The following is a detailed exploration of the Odyssey case and the legal triumph of the victory in the US courts and the recovery of the stolen materials. Finally, the three archeological campaigns of the wreck Our Lady of the Mercedes carried out by the Museum between the years 2015 and 2017 are narrated, which allows to approach the scientific method used and to compare this methodology with that used by the treasure hunters.
The exhibition includes pieces recovered from the frigate in the first two campaigns, interpreted, among other media, through large-format graphic resources and projections of the documentaries recorded during the campaigns.