The sextants were not donated for failing to fulfill their function, but because the ships they belonged to were decommissioned. Even though no documentation on the sextants’ origins has been found, it is known that they were donated by inactive SEMAR ships. The sextants included in this project are no longer used for navigation but are now part of the Naval Museum’s heritage collection, where the mission focuses on the exhibition, conservation, and preservation of the cultural objects belonging to the institution. Although technological advances have replaced the sextant, at Heroica Escuela Naval Militar is still used for teaching the General Corps,* and is also still used as a secondary navigation device aboard active ships. This is an instrument that has historical, scientific, educational, and museological relevance, a testament of the technological evolution of the maritime sciences and also the central axis within navigation. Within all these examples of navigation instruments, the one that most fully caught my eye-and that is one of the most representative devices for the museum and for SEMAR’s history-was the sextant. Such is the case for the astrolabes, slidings, probes, timers, nautical almanacs, crossbows, compasses, quadrants, octants, sextants, and nautical charts. The exhibition includes objects that have been used throughout history as essential parts of navigation, their purpose being to determine one’s position, course, and speed when onboard a boat. It was during a building inspection season, while cataloging and diagnosing the Naval Museum Mexico-Vallarta’s collection, that I was able to study the “Astronomical Navigation” exhibit the visitor is first introduced into a unique environment, a dark-walled space in which the constellations are made up of white LED light luminaires that create a cosmic and hypnotic appearance. The collections are playful and interactive the permanent collection is formed by diverse objects such as armament, artillery, uniforms, insignia, cartographic material, scale models, and pre-Hispanic material among others. Their mission is to conserve, to exhibit, and to disseminate naval heritage for the purpose of magnifying national sovereignty and fortifying Mexico’s identity. The Naval History and Culture Unit (UNHICUN) which belongs to Secretaría de Marina-Armada de México (SEMAR) is structured as two collections: The Naval Museum Mexico-Veracruz and The Naval Museum Mexico-Vallarta.
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