The museum is located in the spaces adjacent to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Bonaria, on the hill of the same name, in a building of Aragonese origin and seat of the Mercedari order, known above all for its commitment over the centuries in favour of the liberation of slaves.
The Sanctuary, instead, owes its fame to the wooden simulacrum of the Madonna landed on the beach in front of it in 1370, and to the consequent affirmation of a strong cult of the Virgin as protector of sailors.
The relics collected are, for the most part, votive offerings of those who escaped shipwreck or slavery, but there is no lack of offerings from sovereigns and people with illustrious names such as, for example, the golden crowns offered, in February 1816, by Vittorio Emanuele I and Maria Teresa. Vestments, monstrances, chalices and precious reliquaries, gifts from princes and prelates, are thickened in the windows. From the top of a wall shines the large silver anchor offered by Queen Margherita of Savoy. Sabres, decorations, coins, porcelain and even sounding and bombs fill the display cases.
