Spain: Exhibition of the Treasure Taken from the Odyssey

Listen to this article An exhibition featuring treasure taken from US treasure hunters Odyssey Marine Exploration has opened in Madrid. The artefacts, worth almost $500million, which were handed over to the Spanish Treasury after a long battle before the US justice system, are now on public display. The exhibition was inaugurated by the heir to

ByMarcin Pawelczyk

Published: June 16, 2014 - 13:10

Updated: July 20, 2023 - 01:46

Spain: Exhibition of the Treasure Taken from the Odyssey

Listen to this article

An exhibition featuring treasure taken from US treasure hunters Odyssey Marine Exploration has opened in Madrid. The artefacts, worth almost $500million, which were handed over to the Spanish Treasury after a long battle before the US justice system, are now on public display. The exhibition was inaugurated by the heir to the throne Prince Felipe and his wife Letizia.

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A wonderful gallery of photographs from the museum

Thousands of gold and silver coins recovered from the 19th century wreck of the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, which sank at the end of 1804, after a A 5-year court battle the battle with the finder and excavator of the treasure were put on display at the Museum of Underwater Archaeology.

The exhibition included only a fraction of the treasure in the form of 8,000 coins, from a treasure of several hundred thousand artefacts. The official statement reads, however, that another 30,000 coins will later enrich the expositions of the capital’s museums – the Museum of Underwater Archaeology and the Naval Museum.

Prince Felipe and wife at the inauguration of the exhibition El Ultimo Viaje de la Fragata Mercedes

The Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes met its fate in the waters off the Portuguese coast in October 1804, when the ship was sunk by the British fleet while returning from Peru to Spain. More than 200 years later, in May 2007, the wreck was found and its valuable contents excavated by the American professional treasure-hunting company Odyssey Marine Exploration.

For the next 5 years, a court battle took place in front of the American judiciary over the ownership rights to one of the most valuable finds in history. How surprised the representatives of Odyssey must have been, when in 2012 the court of highest instance awarded total right to the treasure to the Spanish.

Source: thelocal.es
Photo:AFP/Javier Lizon