7 vaixells, 7 històries

Through seven vessels, seven stories are told by seven characters from all eras who recount surprising maritime adventures. The exhibition addresses universal questions such as the discovery of the world, the sea as a space for leisure, life on board an ocean liner, the sea as a stage for conflict, cargo and its handling, piracy and privateering, or technological change. The ship Santa Maria de la Victoria, a 20th-century sloop, the ocean liner Royal Edward, the mixed passenger-cargo ship City of Paris, the container ship Pilar, an 80-gun warship and the xebec Santa Cristina are the 7 protagonists of the exhibition's various sections. Linked to each of these vessels are the testimonies of characters such as a stevedore, a ship's officer, a Barcelona bather from the 1930s, a ship's captain from 1890, the son of a 14th-century cartographer, an ocean liner's cook, and a 17th-century woman whose children have been kidnapped by pirates. The exhibition presents more than 80 objects, including nautical and spherical charts, atlases, terrestrial globes, theodolites, advertising posters, bathing suits, engravings, paintings or cannons from the collection of the Museu Marítim de Barcelona. In 2025, the MMB renews the section "El mar com a escenari de conflictes" dedicated to people who seek refuge by crossing the sea, with the aim of offering a more current and committed reading.