But, putting on armor, So the Spaniard answered her:
“Oh, beloved! And in passion
You are beautiful and in anger.
Driven by duty and love
I leave and I remain
My flesh goes to battle
But the soul will remain with you.
Luis de Gongora. "He served the king in Oran …" Translated by I. Chizhegova
Military museums in Europe. Ah, Spain! I have already visited many countries, but I have never seen such an alloy of sea, sun, delicious food and history anywhere: not in France, not even in Italy, and even more so in Poland, or in Germany. Croatia … Yes, it's nice to have a rest. But there’s some kind of story. Cyprus … There is even a VTB advertisement in Russian on the sidelines, as if you hadn’t gone anywhere. Not so in Spain. Here the past is mixed with the present, as if in a good cocktail.
While everyone is too scared of the coronavirus to travel across countries and continents, let's get to know the interesting places in Spain virtually. We have already visited many places in this way, but have not examined even a hundredth part of what is there. But today we will have a museum. And not just a museum, but a very interesting museum of the military history of the city of Cartagena. But first, a little general history of this, without exaggeration, a unique place.
The city was founded around 228 BC by the brother of the great Hannibal Hasdrubal, the son of Hamilkar Barki. There was already a settlement, but he gave it a new name - Kwart Hadast. In 209 BC, the city came under the rule of the Romans, who were also commanded by a famous man - the commander Scipio Africanus.
In 555 AD, the troops of the Byzantine emperor Justinian arrived here, in 621 the city was captured by the Visigoths, and in 734 by the Arabs. Only in 1245, during the Reconquista, Cartagena became Christian, and under the Hapsburgs, the Spanish fleet began to be based in its harbor. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the main naval base of the Republicans was located here. The battleship "Jaime I" was blown up here (about the explosion of the battleship will certainly be told later), and it was Cartagena that became the very last city to surrender to the troops of the dictator Franco. By the way, the Spaniards themselves love this city so much that in America they discovered they founded another Cartagena, apparently so as not to forget their homeland!
And now about the museum itself. It is located in a building that consists of four buildings arranged in a rectangular shape with a large courtyard between them, which is divided in half by another building. Total area - 17302 sq. M. The premises of the museum first housed the Royal Artillery Park, 1786-1802; then the 2nd department of the artillery arms shop, 1802-1867; Coastal Defense Command Headquarters and Coastal Artillery Park, 1867-1924; Coastal Artillery Regiment, 1924-1984; anti-aircraft artillery regiment No. 73, 1984-1996 Today, part of the building is now owned by the Municipal Archives of Cartagena, in another, in 1997, the Museum of Military History was opened, which is a branch of the Historical and Military Museum of Seville. The museum halls have an exhibition area of 3520 sq. m and are located on two floors. The exposition of the museum is rich and diverse, but special attention is paid to artillery weapons. With the help of dioramas, you can see the fortifications that defended Cartagena from the sea, there is a separate exhibition of scale models. It is interesting that the chapel of St. Barbara, the patroness of the artillerymen, has been preserved in the building. Several dashboards are provided in both Spanish and English. Many special interactive displays. Naturally, every conceivable convenience has been created for people with disabilities.
As exhibits in the museum, there are guns, uniforms, weapons used by soldiers and officers of the Spanish army, ammunition, as well as weapons from Italy, France, Germany, Russia, etc. In one of the rooms there is a model of Cartagena of the late 18th century. The first floor is decorated with 24 arches. It is between them that the objects of the exposition are located, first of all, artillery pieces. There are halls for ammunition, anti-aircraft artillery, optics and telemetry, an engineering hall and a passage connecting the two courtyards of the museum. Very interesting are the sacristy and the chapel depicting Santa Barbara, the patroness of artillery, which is believed to belong to the brush of the painter Salziglio or his student Roque Lopez, which date back to the 18th century. Meetings of the Brotherhood of San Juan are held here during Holy Week. On the second floor there is a library, an officer's gallery and exhibition halls with models of various military equipment.
Now let's take a look at the photos. Some of the photos were kindly presented to the author of the article by Paul Lansberg (lpsphoto.us), and some photos were taken from the museum's website.
P. S. In the journal "Technics and Armament" No. 8 for 1998, there was my big article about Italian armored vehicles. There is also a book: Shpakovsky V. O., Shpakovskaya S. V. Armored vehicles of the Civil War in Spain 1936-1939. Both the article and the book are on the Internet.
P. P. S. The author and the site administration would like to express their deep gratitude to Paul Lansberg (lpsphoto.us) for the photographs provided.
