This Museum contributes to disseminating the memory of the historic port and urban catastrophe that Santander experienced on 3 November 1893, due to the explosion of the ship Cabo Machichaco.
The Machichaco Museum is located inside the Santander Maritime Station. It has graphic and illustrative works, such as the Magic Box or the Diorama of the ship's explosion, accompanied by original documentation from the period, photographs, paintings and scale replicas of the ship's bulkhead or objects from its cargo, such as a box of dynamite.
It is also a living centre, which changes its exhibition every three to six months, leaving the two key pieces permanent: the Diorama and the Magic Box.
Material donated by different families comes to light in this museum: rivets from the hull of the ship, two command staffs of the mayor at the time, Fernando Lavín Casalis, a sabre belonging to one of the authorities who remained on board on the day of the catastrophe, rescued by one of the divers, together with the crew's spoons. Another of the unpublished pieces is a walking stick made from pieces of shrapnel from the explosion, on loan from the Piñeiro Ceballos family.
The Machichaco Museum is the result of a collaboration agreement between the Royal Machichaco Association, Santander City Council and the Santander Port Authority.
Access is free.