Treasures of sunk Spanish frigate exhibited for first time in Mexico

Mexico is exhibiting for the first time the treasures of the Spanish frigate Mercedes, a Navy vessel sunk by the British off the coast of Portugal in 1804.

Treasure-hunting company, Odyssey, first found the wreck on the Atlantic ocean floor in 2007 and, in subsequent years, pulled up a vast amount of booty, including over 600,000 coins, paintings by the famous Francisco de Goya, historical documents and Spanish artifacts dating from the 18th and 19th centuries.

These pieces can now be admired at Mexico City's National Museum of Anthropology and History from July 1 to Oct. 2 in an exhibition entitled "The last journey of the frigate Mercedes."

"This exhibition has left Spain for Mexico due to the excellent collaboration the two countries enjoy for historical and cultural matters, as well as joint subsea exploration projects they are carrying out," Jose Enrique Ortiz Lanz, national coordinator for the museum, told Xinhua.

"The main objective of this exhibition is to rescue the memories of a key moment in Spanish history, which has surfaced again with the discovery of this treasure," he added.

The pieces on display in Mexico City, recovered at a depth of 1,200 meters, include around 30,000 coins, cannons, tools from the ship and paintings of King Carlos IV of Spain and his wife, Maria Luisa de Parma, by Francisco de Goya.

The Mercedes left Lima in Peru on Feb. 28, 1803 before making a long stopover in Montevideo, Uruguay, from where it left on Aug. 9, 1804, bound for Spain as part of a flotilla.

The flotilla was only a day out from Cadiz when the British Navy struck. In the fight, an explosion on board the Mercedes sank it in deep waters, near the southern coast of Portugal.

The exhibition is jointly organized by the Spanish and Mexican governments and is expected to receive over 150,000 people. Endit