At Belfast, in the Botanic Gardens, the Ulster Museum shelters one of the finest sets of Renaissance maritime archaeology: the treasure of the Girona, a galleass of the Spanish Armada sunk off Antrim in 1588. An exceptional material window on one of the great events of Elizabeth I's reign.
The wreck of the Girona (1588)
In 1588, the Invincible Armada of Philip II of Spain, launched against the England of Elizabeth I, was scattered by the storms and forced to go round Scotland and Ireland to return home. Many of its ships were wrecked on the Irish coasts. The Girona, a galleass, sank in October 1588 near the Giant's Causeway, on the Antrim coast — overloaded with survivors of other wrecks she was trying to bring back to Scotland. Hundreds of men perished. This wreck directly links Ulster to one of the turning points of the Renaissance: the failure of the Armada, which ensured the survival of Protestant England.
A Renaissance treasure
The wreck of the Girona was found in 1967-1968 by the Belgian diver Robert Sténuit, who brought up an extraordinary treasure: Renaissance gold jewels (chains, rings set with stones, a gold salamander adorned with rubies), gold and silver coins, navigation instruments, military objects. These pieces, kept at the Ulster Museum, offer a striking glimpse of the luxury and material culture of the Spanish nobility of the late sixteenth century — a sunken treasure the sea gave back four centuries later. It is one of the most important sets of Armada objects in the world. To see: the Renaissance gold jewels (chains, rings, the ruby salamander), the gold and silver coins, the navigation instruments, the military objects from the wreck.
Did you know?
Among the treasures of the Girona is a small gold salamander adorned with rubies — a Renaissance pendant of exquisite fineness, become the emblem of the collection. The salamander, reputed to live in fire and escape it, was a symbol of resistance and survival. A tragic irony: this jewel worn by a Spanish noble to protect himself did not prevent the Girona from sinking. But it, for its part, survived four centuries at the bottom of the sea — the salamander finally escaped, not the fire, but the water and oblivion.
Notes
The Ulster Museum lies in the Botanic Gardens, Belfast, County Antrim; a national museum open to the public (free admission). Spanish Armada exhibition. GPS to confirm. Hours to check.
Quiz
- What was the Girona?
- A galleass of the Spanish Armada (sunk 1588)
- An English ship
- A Viking boat
- Where did she sink?
- Near the Giant's Causeway, Antrim coast
- In the Channel
- In the Mediterranean
- Who found her treasure in 1967-68?
- The diver Robert Sténuit
- Francis Drake
- A random fisherman