Secretary of State for Culture , Jose Maria Lassalle, accompanied by the counsillor of Education, Culture and Universities of the Region of Murcia, Pedro Antonio López, and the Mayoress of Cartagena, Pilar Barreiro, inaugurate today the expansion of the permanent exhibition of the National Museum of Underwater Archaeology ARQUA ( Waterfront promenade Alfonso XII , 22, Cartagena) , resulting in the presentation to the public for the first time of the recovered assets of the frigate Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes. Since the recovery of looted cultural heritage, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports has launched an ambitious Action Plan for the Cultural Heritage of the ship Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, which includes not only the conservation and restoration of the 14 tons of archaeological remains, but also their documentation, accessibility and diffusion. The exhibition will open to the public the following day, May 30th.
At present has been finished the process of disposal of chemical treatment products of a batch of 40,000 coins that will be part of the expansion of the permanent exhibition of ARQUA and of the temporary exhibition “The Last Voyage of the Mercedes frigate”. Later they will proceed to stabilize the rest of the collection, job whose completion is scheduled for 2015. Restoration work of non numismatic materials have now been completed, except in cases such as copper ingots whose stabilization process is very slow.
