The Maritime Museum of Mallorca will exhibit marine-themed votive altarpieces

A new agreement will allow marine-themed offerings, normally inaccessible to the public, to be exhibited as part of the museographic project currently being developed by the Consell de Mallorca for the Maritime Museum of Mallorca.

Mallorca’s Council and the Diocese of Mallorca have signed a collaboration agreement that will temporarily transfer marine-themed votive altarpieces to the Maritime Museum of Mallorca. The goal is to make this valuable religious and popular heritage, often unknown and out of public reach, accessible to all.

Antònia Roca, Vice President of Mallorca’s Council and Minister of Culture and Heritage, explained that this agreement is part of the musealization project the island institution is developing for the Museu Marítim de Palma, “which, for the first time in its history, will have its own museographic project.” Roca noted that “once this project is completed, the Maritime Museum will reopen to the public at the Ses Voltes location, after several months of closure due to safety concerns.”

The altarpieces or offerings, which will form part of this new exhibition narrative, are small-format painted panels offered in gratitude for salvation from danger at sea, such as storms or pirate raids. The works, dated between the 18th and 19th centuries, prominently feature the Mare de Déu del Puig de Pollença, a protective figure to whom the protagonists of these scenes entrusted themselves.

In addition, the Diocese of Mallorca will lend three altarpieces each year to the Maritime Museum Consortium of Mallorca, using a rotation system that will allow the museum’s narrative to be periodically refreshed. The first three altarpieces, from the sanctuary of Puig de Maria (Pollença), will be on display during the museum’s first year after reopening.

Vice President and Minister Roca emphasized that this collaboration represents a significant milestone: “We are making it possible for the island’s religious and popular heritage to become part of the contemporary museum narrative and reach the entire public. These altarpieces are not just works of art; they are witnesses of faith, the sea, and the people, connecting us with the seafaring and devout Mallorca of our ancestors.”