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ARCHIVED - Arqua underwater archaeology museum in Cartagena to close for six months
The museum is in danger of becoming an underwater exhibit itself due to leaks in the lower floor walls
The Arqua, Spain’s national underwater archaeology museum in the port of Cartagena, is to close its doors to visitors for six months due to problems, ironically, of seawater seeping into the building on account of deficiencies in the construction which some sources are attributing to budget cuts prior to its completion in 2008.
The Ministry of Culture and Sport has confirmed that work will begin in May or June 2020 with a budget of close to 280,000 euros to avoid the formation of puddles in the exhibition halls, something which has become a regular occurrence in recent years, with the bulk of the repairs and improvements being centred on the drainage system. Thankfully, the leaks are reported not to have led to any damage being caused to the exhibits in the museum, which has continued to open as usual without interruption, although it is also reported that the Ministry has back-up plans to re-locate any items in which as yet unnoticed damage is detected.
The leaking of water into the exhibition areas is attributed to the blockage of pipes within the drainage system, and the work to be carried out will make these pipes easier to access and clear on a regular basis. Give that the Arqua is built on land reclaimed from the sea the issue of drainage is a complicated one and is of vital importance, and the effects of the pressure from the sea have become clearly visible on the lower level of the museum.
The construction of the Arqua, designed by Guillermo Vázquez Consuegra, cost around 20.3 million euros, but not long after it opened the first problems of damp on the lower floor, four metres below sea level, began to appear. According to El País, during construction the architect was aware of the problem and recommended the installation of a 15-centimetre-thick containing chamber around the lower floor, but the relevant government departments failed to heed the advice and instead merely surrounded it with a layer of gravel.
Among the exhibits at the Arqua are 600,000 coins from the Nuestra Señora de Las Mercedes, a Spanish ship which sank in the early 19th century and was at the centre of a long legal dispute between the Spanish government and the US treasure hunter Odyssey, and the remains of one of the oldest known vessels in the world, a Phoenician ship dating back to the 7th century BC which was found in Puerto de Mazarrón.
Official figures show that during 2019 the museum welcomed 107,407 visitors, and that the numbers have almost doubled since the treasure of the Nuestra Señora de Las Mercedes was housed there.
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