Wharf of the Caravels
Encyclopedia
The Wharf of the Caravels is a museum in Palos de la Frontera
, in the province
of Huelva, autonomous community
of Andalusia
, Spain
. Its most prominent exhibits are replicas of Christopher Columbus
's boats for his first voyage to the Americas, the Niña
, the Pinta, and the Santa María
. These were built in 1992 for the Celebration of the Fifth Centenary of the Discovery of America. The replica caravel
s were built between 1990 and 1992, put through shakedown voyages and then, in 1992, sailed the route of Columbus's voyage.
The museum is operated by the province of Huelva, and has an area of 11500 square metres (123,785 sq ft).
of Palos de la Frontera, the Niño Brothers of Moguer
, and other mariners from the region made the voyage that is generally accounted as the discovery of the Americas by Europe
ans. These three boats formed part of the Seville Expo '92
, and were part of numerous expositions throughout Europe and the Americas.
After they had been used in all manner of activities—including being used in filming 1492: Conquest of Paradise
—the Andalusian Autonomous Government
acquired the replicas as part of the project Andalucía 92. The key to this project was the construction of the Wharf of the Caravels near La Rábida Monastery
in Palos de la Frontera, one of the key Lugares colombinos
, sites associated with the preparation and launching of Columbus's first voyage. The resulting museum, inaugurated in 1994, is managed by the Diputación de Huelva, the government of Huelva province.
Since the, the Wharf of the Caravels has been open to the public, with the number of visitors increasing each year. In 2007, nearly 200,000 people visited, roughly 550 people a day. It is the third most visited tourist site in Andalusia. August is the busiest month in terms of visitors.
. The upper part of the building holds an exhibit of Pre-Columbian art
.
One of the featured exhibits is an Audio-visual
production about half an hour in length, shown in a hall with a capacity of 120 viewers. After a brief piece on other important local tourist sites such as the La Rábida Monastery
and the Forum of the Organization of Ibero-American States
(Foro Iberoamericano de La Rábida). The narration is from the point of view of the sailors who made the voyage.
in western Huelva province as part of the celebrations of the fifth centenary of the Discovery of America, and were the principle motive to create the Wharf of the Caravels. They are now located at a semicircular dock. Visitors can board and tour each ship for a firsthand view of their holds and cabins. The Pinta and Niña are on the ends, flanking the Santa María. Although the historical reproductions were rigorous in terms of the general lines of the ships, to facilitate visitor access the Pinta has one small, deliberate deviation from what was indicated in the sources: a staircase to the ship's hold. The hold of the Niña cannot be visited, because its design, more faithful to history, would not allow a means to reach the hold that would be safe enough to open to the general public. The larger Santa María features Columbus's cabin, with a man impersonating a scribe
, as well as access to the bowels of the ship.
, a pottery
factory, and numerous cart
s, and a recreated tavern
where museumgoers can by food and drink. This area is a loose recreation of the medieval port of Palos de la Frontera (some 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) away), in line with the spirit that can be seen throughout the museum: to recognize the contributions of this area to the discovery of America. The neighborhood has the capacity for more visitors at a time than any other part of the museum.
Many objects in the market—ceramics, ironwork
, objects made from esparto
fiber—are there to give the outlines of what would have been carried in the holds of ships. Also on display is fruit-in fact, plastic
replicas of fruit-typical of the region at that time.
, where they first made landfall in the Americas. An effort has been made to represent the indigenous
culture. On the one side is a cottage
with wood framing and reed
walls; on the other, the people living on the island are represented by statues, representing people going about such ordinary activities as fishing or cooking; various objects of daily life are also on display, as are replicas of fauna
typical of the Caribbean
, including tortoise
s, parrots
and various species of fish.
has used the museum as a set in two if his films, Mad Love and Tirant lo Blanc
. In 2003, the Spanish folk metal
band Mägo de Oz
used the museum for the photo session of their album Gaia
, in which they appear dressed as pirates.
Also, various other events have been held at the museum, especially commemorations related to the voyage of discovery. Because the museum is open year-round, events can be held there on August 3 (the day of Columbus's departure), March 15 (the day of Columbus's return) and October 12 (landfall in the Americas), among others. The museum is also used as a location for other events that have little to do with the voyage of discovery.
Palos de la Frontera
Palos de la Frontera is a town and municipality located in the southwestern Spanish province of Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is situated some from the provincial capital, Huelva...
, in the province
Provinces of Spain
Spain and its autonomous communities are divided into fifty provinces .In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian , sing. província.*Galician , sing. provincia.*Basque |Galicia]] — are not also the capitals of provinces...
of Huelva, autonomous community
Autonomous communities of Spain
An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...
of Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Its most prominent exhibits are replicas of Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
's boats for his first voyage to the Americas, the Niña
Niña
La Niña was one of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage towards the Indies in 1492. The real name of the Niña was Santa Clara. The name Niña was probably a pun on the name of her owner, Juan Niño of Moguer...
, the Pinta, and the Santa María
Santa María (ship)
La Santa María de la Inmaculada Concepción , was the largest of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage. Her master and owner was Juan de la Cosa.-History:...
. These were built in 1992 for the Celebration of the Fifth Centenary of the Discovery of America. The replica caravel
Caravel
A caravel is a small, highly maneuverable sailing ship developed in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The lateen sails gave her speed and the capacity for sailing to windward...
s were built between 1990 and 1992, put through shakedown voyages and then, in 1992, sailed the route of Columbus's voyage.
The museum is operated by the province of Huelva, and has an area of 11500 square metres (123,785 sq ft).
History
Throughout 1992 there were many celebrations of the fifth centenary of the Discovery of America. Among these, in Spain, was the launching of replicas of the ships in which Columbus and a crew that included the Pinzón BrothersThe Pinzon Brothers
The Pinzón brothers were Spanish sailors, explorers and fishermen, natives of Palos de la Frontera, Huelva, Spain. All three, Martín Alonso, Francisco Martín and Vicente Yañez, participated in Christopher Columbus's first expedition to the New World and in other voyages of discovery and...
of Palos de la Frontera, the Niño Brothers of Moguer
Moguer
Moguer is a municipality and small city located in the province of Huelva, Andalusia, Spain. According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 18,381. Its surface area is , and its population density is ....
, and other mariners from the region made the voyage that is generally accounted as the discovery of the Americas by Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
ans. These three boats formed part of the Seville Expo '92
Seville Expo '92
The Universal Exposition of Seville took place from Monday, April 20 to Monday, October 12, 1992 on La Isla de La Cartuja , Seville, Spain. The theme for the Expo was "The Age of Discovery" and over 100 countries were represented...
, and were part of numerous expositions throughout Europe and the Americas.
After they had been used in all manner of activities—including being used in filming 1492: Conquest of Paradise
1492: Conquest of Paradise
1492: Conquest of Paradise is an epic 1992 European adventure/drama film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Roselyne Bosch, which tells the story of the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus and the effect this had on the indigenous people...
—the Andalusian Autonomous Government
Andalusian Autonomous Government
The Andalusian Autonomous Government is the regional government body of Andalusia, one of the 17 autonomous communities which make up Spain...
acquired the replicas as part of the project Andalucía 92. The key to this project was the construction of the Wharf of the Caravels near La Rábida Monastery
La Rabida Monastery
La Rábida Monastery is a Franciscan monastery in the southern Spanish town of Palos de la Frontera, in the province of Huelva and the autonomous region of Andalucia...
in Palos de la Frontera, one of the key Lugares colombinos
Lugares colombinos
The Lugares colombinos is a tourist route in the Spanish province Huelva, which includes several places that have special relevance to the preparation and realization of the first voyage of Cristopher Columbus. That voyage is widely considered to constitute the discovery of the Americas by Europeans...
, sites associated with the preparation and launching of Columbus's first voyage. The resulting museum, inaugurated in 1994, is managed by the Diputación de Huelva, the government of Huelva province.
Since the, the Wharf of the Caravels has been open to the public, with the number of visitors increasing each year. In 2007, nearly 200,000 people visited, roughly 550 people a day. It is the third most visited tourist site in Andalusia. August is the busiest month in terms of visitors.
Interpretive Center
The Wharf of the Caravels is entered through a vestibule with a ticket window. Beginning there, one can visit, through rotating modules, an exhibit about 15th century society and numerous exhibits related to Columbus's voyage of discovery: replicas of maps, arms, treaties such as the Tratado de Tordesillas and the Treaty of AlcáçovasTreaty of Alcaçovas
The Treaty of Alcáçovas put an end to the War of the Castilian Succession in favor of Isabella I of Castile, and confirmed Castilian control of the Canary Islands and Portuguese control of the Madeira , Azores and Cape Verde islands , all in the Atlantic Ocean The Treaty of Alcáçovas (also known...
. The upper part of the building holds an exhibit of Pre-Columbian art
Pre-Columbian art
Pre-Columbian art is the visual arts of indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, North, Central, and South Americas until the late 15th and early 16th centuries, and the time period marked by Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas....
.
One of the featured exhibits is an Audio-visual
Audio-visual
The term Audio-Visual may refer to works with both a sound and a visual component, the production or use of such works, or to equipment used to create and present such works...
production about half an hour in length, shown in a hall with a capacity of 120 viewers. After a brief piece on other important local tourist sites such as the La Rábida Monastery
La Rabida Monastery
La Rábida Monastery is a Franciscan monastery in the southern Spanish town of Palos de la Frontera, in the province of Huelva and the autonomous region of Andalucia...
and the Forum of the Organization of Ibero-American States
Organization of Ibero-American States
The Organization of Ibero-American States is an intergovernmental organization, comprising the Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking nations of America and Europe, plus Equatorial Guinea in Africa....
(Foro Iberoamericano de La Rábida). The narration is from the point of view of the sailors who made the voyage.
Replicas of the ships
The chief draw of the museum is the trio of replica ships: the Pinta, Niña, and Santa María. The replicas were fashioned in the fishing port of Isla CristinaIsla Cristina
Isla Cristina is a city and municipality located in the province of Huelva, Spain. According to the 2009 census, the city has a population of 21,324 inhabitants....
in western Huelva province as part of the celebrations of the fifth centenary of the Discovery of America, and were the principle motive to create the Wharf of the Caravels. They are now located at a semicircular dock. Visitors can board and tour each ship for a firsthand view of their holds and cabins. The Pinta and Niña are on the ends, flanking the Santa María. Although the historical reproductions were rigorous in terms of the general lines of the ships, to facilitate visitor access the Pinta has one small, deliberate deviation from what was indicated in the sources: a staircase to the ship's hold. The hold of the Niña cannot be visited, because its design, more faithful to history, would not allow a means to reach the hold that would be safe enough to open to the general public. The larger Santa María features Columbus's cabin, with a man impersonating a scribe
Scribe
A scribe is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession and helps the city keep track of its records. The profession, previously found in all literate cultures in some form, lost most of its importance and status with the advent of printing...
, as well as access to the bowels of the ship.
Medieval neighborhood
Near the dock that is the Barrio Medieval, a reproduction of a medieval port neighborhood, reconstructing the environment in which common people lived around the time of the voyage of discovery, by means of such elements of daily life as a marketMarket
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
, a pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
factory, and numerous cart
Cart
A cart is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people...
s, and a recreated tavern
Tavern
A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, and in some cases, where travelers receive lodging....
where museumgoers can by food and drink. This area is a loose recreation of the medieval port of Palos de la Frontera (some 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) away), in line with the spirit that can be seen throughout the museum: to recognize the contributions of this area to the discovery of America. The neighborhood has the capacity for more visitors at a time than any other part of the museum.
Many objects in the market—ceramics, ironwork
Ironwork
Ironwork is any weapon, artwork, utensil or architectural feature made of iron especially used for decoration. There are two main types of ironwork wrought iron and cast iron. While the use of iron dates as far back as 4000BC, it was the Hittites who first knew how to extract it and develop weapons...
, objects made from esparto
Esparto
Esparto, or esparto grass, also known as "halfah grass" or "needle grass", Macrochloa tenacissima and Stipa tenacissima, is a perennial grass grown in northwest Africa and the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula employed for crafts .-Esparto paper:It is also used for fiber production for paper...
fiber—are there to give the outlines of what would have been carried in the holds of ships. Also on display is fruit-in fact, plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
replicas of fruit-typical of the region at that time.
Isla del Encuentro
The Isla del Encuentro ("Island of the Encounter") attempts to recreate the world the crew of Columbus's first voyage encountered on their arrival at the island of GuanahaniGuanahani
Guanahani was the name the natives gave to the island that Christopher Columbus called San Salvador when he arrived at the Americas. Columbus reached the island on 12 October 1492, the first island he sighted and visited in the Americas...
, where they first made landfall in the Americas. An effort has been made to represent the indigenous
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
culture. On the one side is a cottage
Cottage
__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...
with wood framing and reed
Reed (plant)
Reed is a generic polyphyletic botanical term used to describe numerous tall, grass-like plants of wet places, which are the namesake vegetation of reed beds...
walls; on the other, the people living on the island are represented by statues, representing people going about such ordinary activities as fishing or cooking; various objects of daily life are also on display, as are replicas of fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
typical of the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, including tortoise
Tortoise
Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
s, parrots
True parrots
The true parrots are about 330 species of bird belonging to the Psittacidae family, one of the two "traditional" families in the biological order Psittaciformes . The other family is the Cacatuidae which are also parrots, but not classified as true parrots...
and various species of fish.
The museum as film set and event location
The Wharf of the Caravels, and especially the three replica ships, has been used for its ambience or details in several films related to Columbus's voyage. Vicente ArandaVicente Aranda
Vicente Aranda , is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Due to his refined and personal style, he is one of the most renowned Spanish filmmakers. He started as a founded member of the Barcelona School of Film and became known for bringing contemporary Spanish novels to life on the...
has used the museum as a set in two if his films, Mad Love and Tirant lo Blanc
Tirant lo Blanc (film)
Tirant lo Blanc is a 2006 historical adventure film directed by Vicente Aranda. It is based on Tirant lo Blanch, a Catalan language chivalry novel dating to 1490, written by Joanot Martorell...
. In 2003, the Spanish folk metal
Folk metal
Folk metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music...
band Mägo de Oz
Mägo de Oz
Mägo de Oz is a Spanish folk/heavy metal band from Begoña, Madrid formed in mid-1988 by drummer Txus di Fellatio. In 1992, the band were finalists in the Villa de Madrid contest. Then, they went onto achieve great success in Spain, and in 1995, were declared Revolution Rock Band...
used the museum for the photo session of their album Gaia
Gaia (album)
Gaia is a 2003 album by Spanish folk metal band Mägo de Oz. It is the first rock opera of a trilogy. The album tells of a man, the reincarnation of Azzak , who after his execution, is relieved of his soul: the soul of Azzak...
, in which they appear dressed as pirates.
Also, various other events have been held at the museum, especially commemorations related to the voyage of discovery. Because the museum is open year-round, events can be held there on August 3 (the day of Columbus's departure), March 15 (the day of Columbus's return) and October 12 (landfall in the Americas), among others. The museum is also used as a location for other events that have little to do with the voyage of discovery.