The world-famous “Cancun Underwater Museum” was created by Jason deCaires Taylor way back in 2009. It’s pretty much just a “collection” of sculptures placed underwater off the coast of Isla de Mujeres and Cancún, Mexico.
This fascinating underwater museum called MUSA (Museo Subacuático de Arte) consists of over 450 creepy life-size sculptures and is one of the most unusual underwater art projects in the world.
These sculptures aren’t made from some simple slab of granite, but a special material used to accommodate coral life. This entire installation occupies around 420 square metres of barren seabed and weighs over 200 tons. The fish don’t seem to care too much, though.
The grand concept behind this Underwater Museum is to demonstrate the interaction between art and environmental science forms. Its complex reef structure is perfect for the marine life to colonise, inhabit and increase the biomass on a large scale.
The Cancun Marine Park is probably one of the most visited art installations in the world, with over 800,000 visitors each year. You can imagine how this huge amount of people can mess up the local environment, even though these sculptures promote the recovery of the natural reefs.
The underwater art project is divided into 2 galleries: Salon Manchones and Salon Nizuc. Salon manchones is about 6-8 meters deep and is perfect for both casual divers and hardcore snorkelers, while Salon Nizuc is only four meters deep, so you don’t really need any diving equipment.
All these facts are nice and fuzzy, but if you ever get a chance to visit Cancun and see these underwater wonders, do not even hesitate for a second! You will not regret it.
