Description
The Museu Marítim, Barcelona's maritime museum, fills the Drassanes Reials, the royal shipyards in the Port Vell area by the old harbor. The setting is half the show: a vast Gothic hall of stone naves where warships were built for centuries.
The star is the Galera Reial, a full-scale replica of the royal galley of John of Austria, flagship at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. About 60 meters long, with 30 oars a side, it is a reproduction of a ship built in these very yards.
Around it are ship models, navigation instruments, paintings and old portolan charts, among them a map by Gabriel de Vallseca drawn in 1439 and said to have belonged to Amerigo Vespucci. Look out for the carved figureheads, such as the Blanca Aurora of 1848, which portrays the shipowner's daughter.
The museum also looks after the Santa Eulàlia, a three-masted schooner of 1919 moored a short walk away at the Moll de la Fusta. One of the last sailing ships to carry cargo in the Mediterranean, it goes out under sail on Saturdays.
The shipyards themselves date from the 1280s, when Peter III of Aragon started them during the war for Sicily. In the 14th century the city walls were extended to enclose them and a roof was added to shelter the galleys over the winter. In 1423 twelve galleys were built here at once.
Shipbuilding later moved to Cartagena, and the halls became an artillery barracks. In July 1936 they saw fighting at the start of the Civil War. The museum opened in 1941. During its last renovation, digs under the floor turned up a Roman and Visigothic burial ground, complete with glass cremation urns.
In front of the entrance stands a replica of the Ictíneo I, the 19th-century submarine of the Catalan inventor Narcís Monturiol; a model of his Ictíneo II is inside.
The star is the Galera Reial, a full-scale replica of the royal galley of John of Austria, flagship at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. About 60 meters long, with 30 oars a side, it is a reproduction of a ship built in these very yards.
Around it are ship models, navigation instruments, paintings and old portolan charts, among them a map by Gabriel de Vallseca drawn in 1439 and said to have belonged to Amerigo Vespucci. Look out for the carved figureheads, such as the Blanca Aurora of 1848, which portrays the shipowner's daughter.
The museum also looks after the Santa Eulàlia, a three-masted schooner of 1919 moored a short walk away at the Moll de la Fusta. One of the last sailing ships to carry cargo in the Mediterranean, it goes out under sail on Saturdays.
The shipyards themselves date from the 1280s, when Peter III of Aragon started them during the war for Sicily. In the 14th century the city walls were extended to enclose them and a roof was added to shelter the galleys over the winter. In 1423 twelve galleys were built here at once.
Shipbuilding later moved to Cartagena, and the halls became an artillery barracks. In July 1936 they saw fighting at the start of the Civil War. The museum opened in 1941. During its last renovation, digs under the floor turned up a Roman and Visigothic burial ground, complete with glass cremation urns.
In front of the entrance stands a replica of the Ictíneo I, the 19th-century submarine of the Catalan inventor Narcís Monturiol; a model of his Ictíneo II is inside.