Roberto Diaz, president of the Cancun Nautical Association, today at the DEMA Show announced plans to begin installing the world’s largest underwater museum.
Cancun’s West Coast National Park of Isla Mujeres, Punta Cancun and Punta Nizuc will install more than 400 concrete, original sculptures designed by British artist Jason de Caires Taylor at depths ranging from nine to 20 feet. According to a Cancun Convention and Visitors Bureau press release, each sculpture will be human-sized, with a four-square-meter base. The museum will include theme-based galleries like an army of indigenous Mayan warriors and other sculptures like a “Dream Catcher” that collects messages in adrift bottles.
Each sculpture will be designed to become an artificial reef, thereby helping to divert tourists away from the heavily-used natural reef habitats without losing the visitors and the US$36 million they bring to the region every year, according to the bureau press release.
Diaz said at a press conference today that about a third of the $350,000 needed for the project had already been raised, adding that he expects the remaining funds will be raised within the next 18 months. — John Liang
