A new attraction is coming to London, and this one floats: a replica of Christopher Columbus’s flagship vessel.
The Nao Santa Maria will drop anchor in London’s St Katharine Docks and open its… gangplank to visitors on May 29th. You'll be able to visit until June 8th.
At the time of writing we can’t see tickets available to buy for this London run, but those for other venues cost 12 Euros for a standard ticket, 6 Euros for kids aged 10 and under.
“Ticket pricing and information will be released closer to the event via The Nao Victoria Foundation website," reads the St. Katharine Docks website. Here's a closer look at what you can expect:
The Nao Santa Maria is a 28m-long ship that took 14 months to build, and was first launched in March 2018. It’s not a 500-year-old ship, then, but is designed to look just like the original.
That original was the flagship among Christopher Columbus’s fleet and, in the late 15th century, was shipwrecked off the coast of what is today known as Haiti. Parts of its hull were then used to help construct a fort, Fuerte Navidad, credited as the first Spanish settlement in the Americas (or the New World as it would have been called back then.)
As well as being a fairly massive ship that will be impressive to behold in its own right, the Nao Santa Maria acts as a “floating museum” designed to take you back through the centuries.
“Visitors can expect to wander the authentic wooden decks, peek into the captain's quarters, and imagine life aboard the legendary vessel that carried Columbus on his historic 1492 voyage,” reads the attraction's blurb.
Fundacion Nao Victoria operates several of these historical replicas, which sail across the UK (and elsewhere), between stints opening up as a museum.
The Nao Santa Maria drops into Jersey on May 17th-18th, will be at Southend-on-Sea from July 2th to July 6th, and at Great Yarmouth from July 9th to July 20th.
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