Museum artefacts missing

Manuel Gómez, Curator and President of the Association of Friends of the Maritime Museum of Mallorca, or AAMMM made the announcement at the inauguration of the II Conference on Marine Studies in the Sa Nostra Cultural Centre.

This year, representatives from institutions such as the Thyssen Museum, the CCCB, the Maritime de Barcelona and experts in heritage, museums and education were invited to attend the event which was hosted by Albert Forés, Managing Director of the Maritime Museum and Isabel Busquets, First Vice-President and Executive Counsellor of Culture, Heritage & Language Policy and President of the Maritime Museum Consortium of Mallorca.

Manuel Gómez presented a paper titled, 'Inventari', about the Maritime Heritage of Mallorca' and showed pieces from the Museum.

Albert Forés said the Martime Museum wants to address aspects such as language, audiences and accessibility to spaces.

“Today we present the first references of the study of collections being carried out by Manuel Gómez, who is not only discovering where the old collection of the Maritime Museum of the Balearic Islands is located and what state it’s in, he is also finding other collections and pieces which will be incorporated into the Maritime Museum of Mallorca in the near future,” he said.

The old Maritime Museum of the Balearic Islands opened its doors in 1951 with 285 pieces, but by the time it closed in 1974 and artefacts on temporary loan were returned, there were only 125 left. 108 of those were the property of the Museum and 17 belonged to individuals.

In 1980, 127 pieces were transferred to the Consell, but according to Manuel Gómez "the collection was broken up and some pieces disappeared.”

“In 1987, the bits that were left were moved from the Ministry of Culture to the Museu de Mallorca, along with 63 pieces which were kept in storage at the institution, but 64 pieces have since gone missing, although some have reportedly been found in the Santa Magdalena Convent and the Chamber of Commerce.