Interview with María del Carmen López Calderón, Technical Director and Curator of the Naval Museum of the Navy in Madrid, and the Director of the Naval Museum and the Institute of Naval History and Culture, Vice Admiral Marcial Gamboa Pérez-Pardo.

Antonio Mansilla / Madrid

Journalist and Art Critic

What is the final conclusion that the Spanish and foreign public are expected to draw from the visit to the Naval Museum of Spain in Madrid?



According to the Vice Admiral, Marcial Gamboa Pérez-Pardo, director of the Naval Museum and the Institute of Naval History and Culture, at the end of his visit we want the Spanish viewer to leave with the clear conscience that he belongs to a great Nation, and that he has visited a museum establishment in which works of a Navy that has been in the service of Spain for eight hundred years are exhibited, and whose most brilliant pages of that History have been written on board the decks of the ships of the Spanish Royal Navy. Therefore, our goal is for the visitor to be satisfied and proud of being Spanish, and of everything that Spain has done throughout all those centuries.

That is the idea that I want people to take away from the Naval Museum of Spain in Madrid. It is important to fight against the idea that Spain is a losing and defeated Nation, as they sell us from outside. And why do they sell it to us like this from outside Spain? To my understanding, because the "black legend" to put it in some way, continues to be updated in that sense, and is false. On the other hand, the foreign visitor, who comes to the Naval Museum, is generally of a medium-high cultural level, and what interests us is that at the end of the visit, they leave with the idea that Spain is a nation with tradition, with prestige, and that for that reason, can understand why it has been able in some way to maintain an empire for more than three hundred years. That’s the reality. We were losing the territories, due to different circumstances, but no one usurped them, and we must bear in mind that to have maintained an empire for three centuries, we will have had to do many things well. So, in that sense, to have done many things well, perhaps one of our greatest achievements, more than feats, for me, was being able to maintain the so-called Manila Galleon Route for almost three hundred years; and that of the Carrera de las Indias; which was almost a globalization, because it linked the Philippines with the peninsula, and we maintained that with a system of comboys etc, which were later copied in some way, in the Second World War, but the Spanish had already invented it three hundred years before.

I highlight Pedro Méndez de Avilés, as one of the designers, and also with success, because we lost only four times due to the assaults by the Dutch and British corsairs, who focused on that because it was an important source of resources; But it is also that most of the ships that were lost were due to storms, due to the state of the sea; So with the rest, it was possible to maintain that commercial, cultural and wealth route, being a great feat, and a very great achievement that we must point to in our service sheet of the Nation.

What Spain has done, and I say it with all forcefulness, no other nation has done. The world is what it is thanks to the fact that Spain discovered America; and it caused globalization with the trip around the world and opened the borders to a “New Era”, because it reached everywhere. The Spanish made a perfect miscegenation, and it can be verified by all the surnames in the world, as well as a transmission of our culture and our religion. That culture is reflected in the more than thirty universities, countless schools, hospitals, and forty years after arriving.

One hundred years before Harvard University, for example, there were already other universities created by us, and for all this, and more, we want to demonstrate in our Museum that all these great unique works, historical landmarks, and exhibited elements represent moments, that they serve us to eradicate from the mind of the visitor that concept of a nation little less than defeated and losing, ... and that perhaps is born and is able to penetrate us from the outside, -because the Spanish did not have it-, as an idea of losers, regardless of whether the character of the Latin Mediterranean is passionate, for the epic and for the tragedy, but regardless of that; It is true that it was born, perhaps in the nineteenth century, in which we started a War of Independence, three Carlist wars that were three civil wars, a cantonal uprising, and then to top it all, we fall into a position when the rest of Europe is taking off industrially, to finally end the loss of our last territories in the way we lost them. That stuck with the Spaniards, and the concept that we were a defeated Nation remained, so we must fight forcefully against that idea.

Can you tell me about the existing collections in the Museum?



We begin, for example, with cartography, since it is a world reference collection for the study of cartography as a science and its evolution over time. Ten globes and three armillary spheres complete the collection. The bibliographic funds are in the library of the Naval Museum that brings together a wide collection specialized in maritime history, with works on navigation and nautical, astronomy, cosmography, shipbuilding, geography, and travel by the most outstanding writers on these matters, both Spanish and foreign. The Fine Arts collection is made up of about three thousand works, including painting, graphic work, and sculpture. Most of them represent scenes of naval combat, views of Spanish, European and American ports and cities, ships, and boats, as well as portraits of the great protagonists in the history of the Navy.

The Decorative Arts collection includes pieces of furniture, ceramics, jewellery and other objects such as fans or toys, many of which are related to the sea, both for the theme represented and for the use thereof. Shipbuilding as a collection is made up of models of arsenals, models of machines and engines, tools, sailors' supplies, and models of ships in the service of the Navy, from the 16th century to the present day. A good part of this collection is due to the Royal Order published in 1853, which established the obligation to send to the Naval Museum a model of every ship that was built for the Navy. The bulk of the underwater archaeology collection is made up of pieces from exploration campaigns and excavation of underwater sites. The pieces from the shipwreck "San Diego", sunk in 1600 off the island of Fortuna, Philippines, stand out for their volume and exceptional interest.

Likewise, the Naval Museum has pieces from other times, such as an anchor stock and some Roman amphoras. With more than a thousand pieces, in weapons and artillery, this collection shows the evolution of artillery and portable weapons, both white and fire, in their different long and short, civil, and military versions. Likewise, the Naval Museum has an important collection of coins and medals that ranges from Roman times to the present. Its varied theme and its diverse origins make it an outstanding set that has unique pieces of great historical value.

The collection of scientific instruments is one of the most remarkable collections on astronomy and navigation in the world. It includes parts such as compasses, astrolabes, sextants, telescopes, meters, light bulbs, compasses, or marine chronometers. The uniformity and symbolism collection stands out for its variety, with flags, complete uniforms, insignia, clothing items, ornaments, and decorations, many of them coming from donations and, in some cases, protagonists of important naval battles. The ethnography collection is made up of diverse pieces such as weapons, tools, models, and other objects related to navigation, most of them dated to the second half of the 19th century. They come mainly from Asia, the Pacific Islands and the Philippines and, to a lesser extent, from America and Africa.

There are also historical memories, a peculiar collection formed by a set of pieces of very different types and materials. Many of them were gathered throughout the 19th century, when the collection of objects of a historical nature, replicas and curious objects proliferated. The Archive is made up of the documents issued by the Museum since its creation in 1792 to the present day. With them you can investigate and learn about the history of the institution: formation of collections, venues, donations, exhibitions, deposits, restorations, etc.

As specified by María del Carmen López Calderón, Technical Director and Curator of the Naval Museum of the Navy in Madrid, in addition to the main characters and milestones in naval history, through the distinct types of ships and shipbuilding systems, that this Museum Naval offers, the visitor is transported to a little-known vision popularly, in terms of scientific advances in navigation and its related sciences. In this sense, it stands out, especially cartography or astronomy, weapons, belongings of life on board, discoveries and, Spanish expeditions during the Modern Age as well as the evolution of the Navy itself throughout its eight centuries of history.

Have you carried out a museum renovation?

An important museum renovation has been done, since an update of the Museum's graphics has been carried out, which presented problems of lack of homogeneity, outdated supports, and the need for translation into other languages due to the significant influx of foreign audiences. With that objective, indicate both leaders of the Museum, a company was hired to develop the design of the new graphic identity of the Museum, with which it is intended to improve the clarity in the exhibition, the legibility of the collections, accessibility and a better speech understanding.

For the selection of the range of colours, shades have been sought that combine with the paint on the walls, in pink and vanilla, and that do not clash with the historic dark wood cabinets. Navy blue was chosen for the chronological units’ panels and deep brown for the monographic space panels. In the wall elements, the colour of the wall painting itself is maintained, to integrate them into the space and not detract from the work, while inside the display cabinets a raw colour is chosen from the Letter of Juan de la Cosa. The graphics is clean and clear with strong titles and elements that facilitate the location of the visitor. All textual supports bear identification of the thematic unit in which they are found and associated with a transversal itinerary or a specific monographic space through a series of pictograms.

What was the objective of the creation of the Naval Museum?

Marcial Gamboa Pérez-Pardo, indicates that the Naval Museum was inaugurated during the reign of Isabel II, thanks to the action of sailors such as the ministers of the branch Dionisio Capaz and Joaquín de Frías y Moya. The objective of the new institution was to bear witness to the most outstanding historical events of Spanish naval history through the compilation of the collections that today continue to constitute the essence of the Museum. With the creation of the Maritime Departments of Ferrol, Cádiz and Cartagena, a restructuring process of military naval construction began that would culminate in the creation of an arsenal in each of its headwaters.

Throughout the century, the construction systems devised by Antonio de Gaztañeta, Jorge Juan, Francisco Gautier and José Romero y Fernández de Landa were implemented, whose designs are due to such emblematic ships as the "Glorious", the "Santísima Trinidad", the "San Juan Nepomuceno" and the "Montañés". The return to the seas of the world for the return of Spain to the international scene, highlights as most important milestones in this sense the entry into NATO and the European Union, which has made it possible for the Navy to display its flag again in all places where service to national interests requires it. Leaving behind the successes, and also the failures that are inevitable in a trajectory of eight centuries, reinforced by the lessons of history and strengthened by the trust that the Spanish place in it, the Navy has returned to the seas of the world, and with this will undoubtedly reinforce and ensure museum collections of the present, past and future, derived from their travels and adventures at sea.

How is the new permanent exhibition and what does it include?

The new permanent exhibition of the Naval Museum includes two large levels of information, according to the Director of the Naval Museum, Marcial Gamboa Pérez-Pardo, and the curator Maria del Carmen López. The first level is made up of six large units, which follow a chronological journey from the Middle Ages to the present, and five monographic spaces. The second level is a novelty in the Museum's discourse and is made up of seven transversal itineraries that aim to facilitate the understanding of the evolution of certain facets along the historical route and, with this, improve the reading of the collections.

Within the process of renovation of the Museum, the main objective was addressed from the beginning, the clarification of the discourse through a structured organization of the information. As it is a historical museum, which aims to transmit the history of Spanish navigation and the Navy as an institution, the proposal for a chronological tour of the old exhibition has been promoted, integrating aspects as important as the evolution of science in each historical period. nautical, explorations or cartography, which were previously exhibited in monographic rooms. Along the same lines of continuity, the monographic sections dedicated to specific topics have been preserved, which seek to analyse in more detail some specific aspects of this historical evolution.

Can you talk about how the renovation, restoration and assembly has been?



For López Calderón and Gamboa Pérez-Pardo, during the renovation process of the Museum, the restoration work has been constant, since through a team of four restorers, active at different times of the work, and two carpenters, they have acted on practically all the pieces, but in different degrees of intervention, such as manual and mechanical cleaning of the collection for its relocation, adjustments of frames of the paintings, reframing of graphic work, conditioning of the portolans, conditioning and study of the Letter of Juan de la Cosa, cleaning and readjustment of historical display cabinets, renovation of supports for ceramic pieces, weapons or scientific instruments, reintegration of various materials, consolidations of various materials, packaging of protruding pieces and production of storage supports.

All this has allowed a study of the state of conservation of a large part of the collections and has opened the door to future restorations that will continue after the reopening of the museum. In relation to the assembly and movement of parts, the company that has a framework contract with the Ministry of Defence as a logistics operator, has carried out various actions, transporting and storing pictorial works in an external warehouse during the work period, such as the transport of works from affiliated museums of the Naval Museum and other external venues to be incorporated into the exhibition discourse of the Madrid headquarters, the manipulation, movement and installation of large works within the museum during the work and others. Likewise, the entire technical team of the Naval Museum, together with military personnel from the Army Headquarters, has carried out both the dismantling of the Museum to carry out the works, and the assembly of the pieces according to the new discourse.

Is there an accessibility plan for the Naval Museum for people with reduced mobility and health security?

Yes, they affirm, the two maximums according to those responsible for the Naval Museum, since they affirm that they have worked in an integral way to achieve the improvement of accessibility to the cultural space. One of the fundamental aims derived from the renovation works of the Naval Museum was the implementation of a universal accessibility plan, as presented at the Accessible Museums Day (MUSEAC) at the Casa de América, in November 2019. After the renovation, the museum is fully accessible to people with reduced mobility. The entrance hall has an adapted elevator that connects all the floors of the new entrance and the museum rooms.

The passage between rooms has been facilitated by eliminating unevenness and the location of the pieces allows the movement of wheelchairs. Likewise, the Museum has new adapted toilets on the ground floor of the new access, in whose installation the recommendations of official bodies have been followed. In relation to cognitive and sensory accessibility, the Museum has developed a comprehensive project with the help and collaboration of CESyA (Spanish Centre for Subtitling and Audio Description) and the Royal Board on Disability of the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare. Typological models have been made for its installation, -as soon as the pandemic allows it-, the guidelines have been established for a mobile application that contains audio descriptions, subtitles and easy reading of the informational supports. The declaration of the state of alarm as a result of COVID-19 forced to rethink all these protocols with more time and security, so the project has been resumed after reopening, in order to offer a quality universal accessibility program respecting all the health security protocols.

How is the collection organized?

López Calderón, and Gamboa Pérez-Pardo, assure Mood The Art of Today International Magazine that due to its diversity, the collection is organized chronologically and with transversal itineraries. Along the tour of the rooms, these seven transversal itineraries are proposed that allow us to follow the evolution of some elements throughout the different periods. These itineraries allow the content of the units to be structured in different thematic sections and to develop a discourse in an orderly manner.

The first "Eight centuries of history" proposes a journey through the main episodes of Spanish naval history. The second is "Illustrious Seafarers" which focuses on the figure of the most outstanding sailors of each era. Then "Naval Construction" follows, which analyses the evolution of construction forms and techniques. "From the art of seasickness to the science of sailing", presents a journey through the scientific advances that led to the knowledge of the seas and the development of navigation. 

Another interesting itinerary is the "Naval Armament" that places the starting point and attention in the evolution of the armament throughout the different eras. Also important is the itinerary "The evolution of the Navy" that covers the most important moments in the history of the Navy as an institution. The "Cultural Exchanges" relate the collections gathered by the Navy from contacts with other cultures. Throughout the tour, a series of pieces have been pointed out that, due to their special relevance within the museum's collections and because of their representative character within each historical period, have been highlighted. The aim is to ensure that the public can identify the most important pieces in the collection and that they are associated with the image of the museum.

The "Universal" Charter of Juan de la Cosa

The Charter of Juan de la Cosa, is undoubtedly one of the most important pieces at the international level, the Universal Charter of 1,500, which is exhibited in the Naval Museum of Madrid. It is a cartographic work made by the traveller, navigator, spy, and pilot among others, in which the American continent is represented, thus being the oldest hand-drawn reference in the world of cartography that refers to America. It is a universal work for the representation of the world, and that it was made eight years after Christopher Columbus arrived in America, as the head of the cartography collection of the Naval Museum of Madrid, José María Moreno Martin, has assured this medium. The author signed his work, a nautical jewel as defined by López Calderón, to this piece that was missing for more than three hundred years, and which is the most requested piece in the Naval Museum, both for publications and for temporary exhibitions around the world.

It is popularly known as the "nautical jewel" and it is no longer loaned to anyone, remaining guarded in the Naval Museum of Madrid, with extreme security measures.

The two united parchment skins that make in unison that magnificent cartographic fusion that has reached our days since the year 1,500, as "Universal Charter of Juan de la Cosa", represents the first cartographic exponent of America, not only as a scientific work manuscript, which contributes much to the History of Humanity, but also represents a rich work of art with capital letters in which, in addition to colours, golds were used, and extensive and precious ornamentation. It is signed as it was generally done in the portolan letters, in the area of ​​the neck of the animal's skin, in a single line from north to south. The author, Juan de la Cosa, was an experienced sailor born in Cantabria, who was with Christopher Columbus, on some of his trips, and who certainly did it on request, with the aim of leaving palpable written and drawn testimony of all those lands and places that were discovered, and locating them in relation to the world geographical context with the rest of places known until then, specifically the entire Mediterranean Sea. America appears, and the author, like the people of his time, believed that it was Asia. Even Christopher Columbus died with the conviction that the lands until then discovered were a part of Asia, and that is how the idea was expressed when the north of America was united with Asia. And it is that in the Middle Ages it was difficult to ensure new discoveries for the World, which were not referenced by existing classical sources.

The internal decoration of the menu includes a whole series of perspectives and sometimes panoramic views of cities of interest at the time, as well as fortresses, palaces, and towers, among others. The cities of the European part, a sector of Asia, and a few of Africa, are represented as architectural ensembles. For populations or cities that are unknown castles and / or palaces are represented. Most of the represented from Africa and Asia are those that were had classic references by travellers and are roughly placed to fill that space on Juan de la Cosa's world map. The flags vary in colour. As for the ships, for example, there are up to seven caravels and two ships, which mark the route to India: and Castilian ships in the western lands. 

The Spanish ships do not appear before the limit of what was discovered by the West, nor next to the sign that indicates the discovery of Brazil, for example, by Vicente Yañez Pinzón, but they are anchored. The bearer of Christ stands out, inviting you to follow him to China through an entire channel hampered by ornaments. Presides over the world map in the left area, a drawing like the main rose, of San Cristóbal with the Child on his shoulders.