Interesting places to visit in Cartagena Spain, ARQUA, Museo Nacional de Arqueologia Subacuatica.

Located in the Paseo del Muelle Alfonso XII, this museum has been designed as a window into the world of underwater archaeology, the cutting edge building houses not only museum space but also storage, restoration and research facilities, the centre for marine archaeology in the region.

 

With it's rich marine heritage and long history as a trading port, Cartagena and the other trading sites located along the Murcian coastline hold some extraordinarily intact underwater sites, including the famous Phoenician boats discovered at Mazarron, and the most recent find, an even larger Phoenician vessel at La Manga which is currently undergoing excavation.

Whilst this museum holds an impressive collection of artefacts recovered from sites in the region, it also acts as an educational facility and teaches visitors about the processes of marine archaeology, the techniques employed to locate, map and excavate an underwater site, as well as the technology used to catalogue, conserve or restore the remains recovered during the archaeological process.

 

It's an interesting museum to visit, as at first glance it appears to contain very little, but start pressing buttons and a fascinating world develops before you, of legends and superstition, boat building and navigation, illustrated via well designed interactive displays.

 

There's a lab area which can occupy the youngsters for ages and models which give a clear idea of how the port area would have appeared over 2000 years ago.

 

Interesting little exhibits bring to life the trading past of the area, showing lead ingots, cargo which disappeared beneath the waves as it left the port, mined from the hills surrounding the city, and ivory tusks which were highly prized in the days when Hannibal, the famous general who took his army and his elephants across the alps, lived here in Cartagena.

There are intimate glimpses of daily life, a little terracotta bottle, believed to have been used as a babies' bottle, and exquisitely detailed coins from Carthage, the great city founded by the Carthaginians who occupied this area, and whose story is celebrated every year in the Romans and Carthaginians Fiestas which take place in the autumn. (Click for Romans and Carthaginians.)On this coin you can see the head of the goddess Tanit, to whom offerings are made in the fiestas, and many of the other pieces breathe life into the past, bringing it closer and helping to engender a little understanding of the evolution of Cartagena.

If you'd like a taster, go to the website www.arqua.es. Click onto "Exhibition", then go to "Gallery of pieces." Click onto the image and a little information about each of the most important pieces will be displayed, and there are several pages of them , with a number of artefacts  per page. It's fascinating to work through them, and helps to make a visit all the more enjoyable as it's easier to appreciate what you're actually looking at. Very often, the significance of a piece is totally lost without some explanation of what it actually is, and it's all too easy to glaze over exhibits without seeing the history they represent.

This gallery helps to explain the detail, so looking at these clay pipe bowls for example, we can clearly see the magnificent representation of a sailing ship in full sail, but could easily miss the significance of the three flowers decorating the second bowl, failing to see that although they look like thistles, that they're actually poppies, the source of opium, the relaxant of many a sailor throughout history and one of the most fought over substances on the planet.

Some things haven't changed then, in the 200 years since these pipes were thrown onto a Carthaginian rubbish heap.

 

The museum is also the home of the prized Phoenician boat, Mazarron 1, the remains of which are actually located in the museum, together with a  replica of Mazarron 2 , which is still enterred in the sand  beneath the waters of the bay where it sank, 2600 years ago, now protected beneath a case of steel to prevent it being damaged by the curious or the careless.

Many of the artefacts, including,incredibly, wood which was used to pack the cargo of lead ore ingots survived in a remarkable state of preservation and are on show in the museum, together with amphorae from Mazarron 1 which were believed to have been carrying food products, some of them the garum fish paste which was manufactured in Mazarron, in the salt fish factory which is open to the public following its' excavation.

 

This is a good museum for children, and is an excellent way to while away an hour or two on a very hot day or a very wet day.

 

Whilst the entry is inexpensive, it's worth noting that entry is free after 2pm on a Saturday and all day Sunday, so those who live here have the luxury of being able to wait until a particularly unsociable day to pay a visit.

It's also open all day, so is also useful to schedule in during the mid hours of the day when many of the other attractions are closed.

Practical information about the ARQUA Marine Archaeology Museum, Cartagena

 

Opening Hours

15^th April-15^th October

Tuesday-Thursday 10am-9pm

Fridays and Saturdays 10am-10pm

 Sundays 10-3pm

 Closed Mondays

 

 

16^th October-14^th April

Tuesday-Saturday from 10am-7.30pm

Sundays and national holidays from 10am-3pm

Closed Mondays

 

Entrance fee

3 euros

Free entry for under 18's and over 65's, plus disabled, unemployed, students, large families, tourism guides and personnel of any other museums.

Free Entry. Saturdays after 2pm, undays, 18^th April, World heritage day and 18^th May, International Museums day.

 

Accessability

Entrance is via a long ramp, and internally the museum is optimized for disabled access.

 

Extra Facilities.

There is a stylish cafeteria which has an enormous window looking out across the port area and is a wonderful place to see the cruise ships when they are in port. The café serves a range of basic food and drinks.

Address and parking

Paseo del Muelle Alfonso XII 

This is the main paseo area running along the waterfront. There is parking directly below the carpark in the underground carpark.

 

Tel 968 12 11 66

 

Would we recommend the ARQUA, Cartagena to visitors?

Yes. We had a thoroughly enjoyable morning pressing buttons and would particularly recommend this for families on hot days or wet days.

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