An exhibition will recreate in Boca del Calvari Museum the history of the tunny fisheries of Benidorm

From next Friday, March 24 until May 28 it can be visited

A complete historical reconstruction of the tunny fisheries, their socioeconomic importance and the role played by the inhabitants of the Baixa Marina, especially the children of Benidorm, will be exhibited in Boca del Calvari Municipal Museum in Benidorm from 24 March to 28 of May.

Organized by the Department of Historical and Cultural Heritage, the curator of the Exhibition, the writer and journalist Ángeles Ruiz, author of the publication 'De atún, almadrabas y sus capitanes', has carried out extensive research on almadrabas and a field work Consisting of interviews and localization of written and graphic documents. The exhibition has been done with a didactic communication scheme.

The exhibition reveals how the captains of the tunny fisheries from Benidorm, were solicited for their expertise and knowledge in this complex fishing gear and following the traces of the tuna shoals captained the majority of those located in the Mediterranean, the Eastern Atlantic , Morocco and Tunisia, also having presence in Algiers and Sicily. The mastery of the technicians of Benidorm does not stop growing and evidenced from the XVIII century until well into the XX century. The children of Benidorm and La Vila Joiosa not only served as captains or made different trades in the fishing of trap, were also prominent shipowners, administrators and shareholders of the almadrabas.

Thematic sections

The exhibition is structured in thematic sections. The ground floor, immerses the visitor in the secret life of bluefin tuna, a sea colossus that flows through the waters every season, travelling thousands of miles, from the North Atlantic to the Mediterranean, over and over again, throughout its life to spawn in the place where they were born. Along the history; Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks and Romans have appreciated their fine meat, rich in protein and suitable for salting.

On the ground floor you can see the particular microcosm of the trap, a city built between the waves with buoys, cables and anchors. The visitor will take a historical tour, from antiquity to the present day; From the minting of coins with the tuna as a symbol, to the famous garum sauces that seduced the Roman palates.

In the first floor it is revealed as it was the technicians of Benidorm who directed the majority of the trappings, arriving to establish itself in the municipality authentic sagas of captains. But the commanders did not travel alone, they were accompanied by a number of experienced seamen from the area. Already in 1795, the eight trapped caldrons of Tortosa to Cartagena were in charge of captains of Benidorm and had 150 enrolled of this locality. The second floor includes images of a report made by photographer Jaume Fuster in a work guided by Captain Jacinto Vaello.

The exhibition "Almadrabas y sus capitanes" takes us back to the almadrabas and almadrabillas siladas in Dènia, Xàbia, Calpe, Moraira, La Vila Joiosa, Benidorm and Tabarca. Today the almadrabas Alicante belong to the past. Their disappearance was caused by a decrease in catches, an increase in the costs of materials and labor, and modern fishing technology.

The mayor, Toni Pérez, and the councilor of Historical and Cultural Heritage, Ana Pellicer, call on residents and visitors of Benidorm to attend the inauguration of the exhibition scheduled for next Friday at 20 hours in the Boca del Calvari Museum or that they visit it during the next two months to recreate a history that has marked the recent past of the town of Benidorm.