There we explored a number of exhibits, all of which are replaced regularly by the Museum staff. “This is an iceberg”, said Geraldine Finlayson, Managing Director of the Museum. “You should see what’s in the labs!” The work that goes behind the scenes carried on throughout the closure and to this day tremendous work goes into the museum’s exhibits and displays. At the moment, the museum is free for residents in Gibraltar. “The philosophy of the museum is that this is the museum of the Gibraltarians”, a communal site that preserves the heritage of its people and past.

We walked past two Neanderthal models, around ancient Egyptian sarcophagi, into Moroccan baths and up the stairs to the British history displays. The Gibraltar Museum is certainly dense and rich with historical content, yet not too much so as to experience “museum fatigue” as Geraldine put it. It truly is a quaint and incredibly relaxing walk: informative, diverse, and never too stuck on one theme and topic. For its size, the museum has a tremendous amount of history to offer, and its ability to balance this breadth of information without having to cut on substance is to marvel at.

One exhibit of note was a large Spanish Republican Flag (red, yellow and purple), recovered from the Jose Luis Diaz who sought refuge in Gibraltar – immediately becoming a source of political tension due to infringes on the non intervention policy of the Spanish Civil War. The presence of the ship and its political weight brought with it conflict amongst many Gibraltarians, particularly members of the Workers’ Union who were unsurprisingly quick to establish close relations with the crew.

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19-05-2020 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR