The MuCa: a journey through the history of large ships

Art & Culture

22 November 2018

Art & Culture

The MuCa: a journey through the history of large ships

Do you know how and where large cruise ships are built?
Here at the MuCa, the Museo della Cantieristica (Shipbuilding Museum), we tell you about the stories and developments in a century of shipbuilding, and much more. We are in Monfalcone, in the province of Gorizia, where some of the major shipyards in the world are situated.
I have never been on a cruise but I lived for about one year on an Italian Navy ship. So, as a former sailor and worker, I found the guided tour to the museum particularly interesting, which, thanks to its highly interactive nature, allowed me to be immersed in the history of the shipyard and relive the emotions and feelings of my colleagues in those years.

With the aid of an interactive map, situated in the centre of the large room of the museum, you can travel through the history of the Monfalcone area. In the second half of the 19th century, the Monfalcone area was mainly marshland. There was nothing there. Its few inhabitants were largely farmers and fishermen. But towards the end of the 19th century, the need for a port for the Austro-Hungarian Empire started a process of industrialization of the city of Trieste and, consequently, of the Monfalcone area.

The museum is housed in the former "Albergo Operai" of Panzano. This building was created and designed to provide unmarried workers with the utmost comfort. They all had their own separate room with a window and heating. Such facilities are perhaps considered normal nowadays, but they were almost a luxury a century ago. The owners of the shipyard, the Cosulich brothers, from Lussinpiccolo (now known as Mali Lošinj), on the Croatian island of Lussino, were pioneers in merchant shipping in the Adriatic Sea. The wellbeing and privacy of their workers during rest times was of particular importance to them. To give their workers the opportunity to "enjoy their free time", an entire district was built in Panzano near the shipyard, with various shops, a library, a stadium and a theatre.
In those years, the British were the most skilled shipyard workers in the world. The shipyard owners hired some of them to teach the trade to their workers at the shipyards in Monfalcone. It was a great move!

Browsing "the time line" positioned not far away, we can learn about the history of the shipyard and the Cosulich brothers, Callisto and Alberto, who were obliged to hand over the shipyard to the Italian state after the world economic crisis in 1929.

Entering the sensory tunnel is like travelling in time. Inside it, you are immersed in the shipyard as it once was, surrounded by the sounds and lights of the work environment of those years. We enter a simulator of the control cabin of a crane, which works to build the motorship Saturnia (1927). From here, with the aid of multimedia tools, we can steer the crane and move along the dock of the shipyard to see what it was like in those years.
The shipyards also successfully managed to adapt to the requirements of each period in history. So, when the demand for ships decreased, they were able to diversify their production, also by building excellent submersibles, submarines and aeroplanes. For example, the famous CANT seaplanes made the shipyard renowned worldwide.

In the mid-20th century, the concept and vision of voyages by ship changed.
Until 1951, travelling by sea had been just a way to get around. There was no such thing as the current-day idea of a holiday at sea. Things started to change with the ship Giulio Cesare. It was a new concept in ships, which was required to be not only practical but also attractive. Increasing importance was given to time spent onboard ship: it was the beginning of the cruise concept!

Up to then, for example, third-class passengers had been considered "people not to be seen". For this reason, they had to board ship at night. The Giulio Cesare even had a swimming pool available to third-class passengers.
Art also played an important role in this new concept of travel. In the 1950s, ships became travelling art galleries. Some of these works are exhibited in the MuCa museum, such as the huge embroidered canvas by Zoran Mušič depicting the story of Marco Polo.

This work, along with the sculptures of Bora and Scirocco by Marcello Mascherini, adorned the first-class lounge of the motorship Augustus.

Scirocco by Marcello Mascherini

Bora by Marcello Mascherini

Today, the main focus of a cruise is not the voyage but rather having a holiday on board a ship. Since 1990, the shipyard has specialised in building cruise ships. Today, all major international shipping companies have their ships built here, which, like huge Lego constructions, are built in pieces on land and then welded together in the dock. This process has reduced production costs, which is highly important for a shipyard that intends, in the long term, to continue writing pages of history that are not only industrial but also cultural in the timeline of the MuCa.