Claire Holton

the age of (re)discovery : underwater marina & marine archive

In the world’s oceans there might be 3 million shipwrecks hidden from view on the ocean bed. Or buried beneath new coastlines.

Evidence of the past, including the Age of Discovery so important in Portugal’s history, are captive in these submerged ruins … often intact until exposed to air, or preservable in air if separated from moisture.

New technologies allow shipwrecks to be located and explored or lifted out of the deep. Lucrative businesses like Marine Odyssey operate within legislation (and perhaps outside it) to harvest lost treasures from the sea. Gold bullion and precious jewels and china are durable and can be translated immediately into cash. But what of the items that are fragile when removed from the sea … requiring skillful conservation? Or of historical/cultural value … peppercorns, a shoe, a skeleton? And what of the broken vessels themselves … scrap or heritage?

Offshore, wrecked Portugese ships dating back to the Age of Discovery will be returned to accumulate in an underwater marina, visible from the clifftop vantage point at Cabo de Roca as vessels resting in the water, and occasionally, according to moon cycles and tides, briefly exposed above the waves.

Onshore, the marine archive is embedded in a rugged and exposed landscape at the westernmost edge of Europe. A thick wall acknowledges the powerful weathers of the Atlantic Ocean and accommodates the preserved artefacts retrieved from the wrecks and the sea. Mobile workshops are technically equipped and grouped on the main floor for the unpacking and preservation of salvaged pieces arriving by helicopter in sea water chests. Upper floors command a view of the horizon and the vast sea stretching beyond view all the way to Delaware.