A free visit to discover the late 19th and early 20th-century universe revolving around the historic steamboat that connected Canary Islands through its ports. This is the essence of the exhibition ‘The Smoke of Progress. The steamboat ‘La Palma’, its era, and recovery.’ It was unveiled yesterday and will be open until October 6. The iconic vessel, the only one of its model and age preserved today, is moving for five months to the Museum of Nature and Archaeology (MUNA) in Tenerife. Until then, its interior will be filled with the taste, color, sight, sound, and smell of the ship that still exists, docked at the North Pier of Santa Cruz, thanks to the perseverance of the Foundation that bears its name.
Under that intriguing title, the museum center of the Island Council hosts the exhibition, ideal to visit during these May holiday bridge days, showcasing everything that surrounded the ethnographic, historical, and cultural aspects at the time when the contemporary of the Titanic (1912) started sailing the seas, mainly between islands, back in the mid-tens of the last century.
The sound of the old ship’s siren calls for the beginning of the journey. Because here it sounds like a ship, including the characteristic background noise of the sea, it tastes like a ship, looks like a ship, is enjoyed like a ship, and even smells like a ship. It almost makes one’s stomach churn and feel dizzy, even though it doesn’t. Guided by the creator of the exhibition, José Manuel Padrino, it is a true luxury to enter the universe of the Second Industrial Revolution (1870-1914). Here, an exciting era is compressed. From the tobacco trade to motorized transport, postal services, or industry through the smoke that then symbolized “progress and speed.” And phenomena such as colonialism, labor movements, early cinema, artistic avant-gardes, and internal and external Canary Island emigration. All of that in the background, as the form is, of course, that of a ship that represents, in itself, maritime and global history, bearing no surname, of Tenerife and the Canary Islands.
This journey pays tribute to the work of this ship in the advancement and progress of the Islands
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Ahead of the journey, filled with special effects reminiscent of the ship and its historical era, in the Miguel Pintor courtyard, the Culture Councilor of the Tenerife Island Council, José Carlos Acha, and the president of the La Palma steamboat Foundation, Juan Pedro Morales, presented an event that aims to be a new step towards the revival of inter-island navigation by the ship -“with clean energy,” all stressed- in addition to the future Naval Museum intended to be established at the Ventoso or Customs House in the Tenerife capital.
Every detail is carefully taken care of in an exhibition divided into five main areas: Smoke of progress, Industrial object, Communication, Voyages, and Recovery and Heritage. It encompasses everything from symbols or ship furniture to period attire and exclusive documents, to an interactive panel explaining the routes and milestones of the six steamers, three large and three small, that sailed from 1912 to 1976, in the case of the La Palma steamboat, the seas of the Islands to connect the Canaries. In addition to honoring the twins Viera and Clavijo and León and Castillo, in operation until 1981-82, the Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, and Gomera/Hierro.
The Museum of Nature and Archaeology (MUNA) pays tribute and tribute to the important role played by these steamships in the connectivity of the Canaries over a century ago. The temporary exhibition, with itinerant aspirations, aims to transport visitors to the island port, in this case Santa Cruz, at the beginning of the 20th century, and it certainly achieves that.
Steam against isolation
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José Carlos Acha, along with Juan Pedro Morales and the technician from the Museum of History and Anthropology of Tenerife, José Manuel Padrino, presented yesterday the details of this display designed to bring visitors closer to an essential historical moment for the islands’ development, thanks to the push of this steam engine that helped alleviate the archipelago’s isolation. A true revolution.
José Carlos Acha emphasized the islander’s idea of “always looking at the horizon” to “see the ships through which everything entered.” The island councilor highlighted the value of a route where visitors can rediscover this historical milestone that marked the start of the La Palma steamboat service and the other five steamers that formed the original fleet, transforming the island population’s way of life and, by extension, the maritime landscape.
For all these reasons, Acha thanked the Foundation for their involvement “in this project that seeks to pay a well-deserved tribute to the work of this ship in the advancement and progress of the islands, through greater connectivity between them and also with other external territories.” Juan Pedro Morales also highlighted the importance of this exhibition “as a means of communication with visitors to travel a century back and understand the historical milestone that was the launch of this fleet of steamers that carried the Spanish postal service mail between the islands.“
Unique pieces
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The exhibition will allow visitors to enjoy a series of unique pieces belonging to the La Palma steamboat itself, alongside a small display of artwork, as well as representative objects from this early last-century era, in addition to a series of screenings and audiovisual media. Furthermore, the temporary exhibit perfectly immerses visitors in the sensory atmosphere that will transport them back to an island port of the early 20th century.
This exhibition project, the result of collaboration between the Autonomous Body of Museums and Centers of the Tenerife Island Council and the Canary Foundation Correíllo La Palma, also seeks to highlight the heritage value of the vessel and the history of those who commissioned, designed, and built it, those who crewed and navigated it, those who prevented its scrapping, as well as those involved in its recovery. A quote from Acha summarizes: “We have not been able to bring the La Palma steamboat here for obvious reasons, but we have brought its entire essence.”
Tenerife residents interested – it is hoped there will be many because it is worth it – in visiting the exhibition can do so for free until October 6. From Monday to Saturday, from 9:00 to 19:00, and Sundays and holidays, from 10:00 to 17:00. The La Palma steamboat moves to the MUNA for five months.
The tinerfeños interested – it is hoped that many of them will be because it is so worth it – in visiting the exhibition can do so for free until 6th October. From Monday to Saturday, from 9:00 to 19:00, and Sundays and holidays, from 10:00 to 17:00. The correíllo La Palma moves to MUNA for five months.
