The port of Santander adds to the different commemorative acts of the 120th anniversary of the Cape Machichaco catastrophe with an exhibition that will be in the Palace of the Embarcadero until December 29. The exhibition is entitled ‘Immersion after Machichaco’ and it gathers works by Naval Modelist Pedro Blanco.
This exhibition is based on an inverted chronology with which the visitor goes back to the dates of the tragedy, and in it are completely unpublished data, stories and images achieved thanks to the historian Carlos Monar. As a central axis, models are shown with the exterior and interior models of the steam, and a diorama in which you can contemplate the state of the steam ship after the first explosion and before the second. In this recreation, the visitor can move to the Santander docks of 1893 and immerse themselves in its waters to see the remains of Cape Machichaco.
Pedro Blanco, author of the models that will be seen in the Palace del Embarcadero, explains what he pursues with this exhibition: “It is intended that the exhibition will take us back to the last years of the nineteenth century to understand the conditions that concurred so much in Navigation as in maritime transport, instructing the environment of stowage and port work.
It also points out as the main objective "teach the details and details of the result derived from the events that, added to endless circumstances and chance chained, joined to cause the fatal tragedy."
The models
The exposed models are three, the first one shows what the ship was like, as it was before the fire occurred. This model are two models installed in a magical box, a closed space with the totally black background that lights only to visualize what you want to show. The model shows the exterior of the ship at 1/75 scale, and the interior built on the same scale and in it you can see the enclosures that form the inside of the ship.
The second model is the diorama after the catastrophe and in it the appearance of the ship is represented as it was after the first explosion and before the second. The exceptionality of this representation is its original perspective, since it is represented from the bay and reconstructs the port side. In the diorama you can see three levels, the first the background of the bay, the second at water and the third the city.
The third model is Alfonso XIII, it is a steam-corner, at 1/100 scale, of the transatlantic company that had arrived at the port that same morning.
Schedule
From Tuesday to Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Sundays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Sunday afternoon and Monday will be closed all day.