April 8, 2018
La Belle
Our favorite exhibit in this museum of Texas history was La Belle, one of four ships sent by King Louis XIV of France to the mouth of the Mississippi in 1684. Three ships were lost and La Belle was wrecked in a storm in Matagorda Bay (between present-day Galveston and Corpus Christi), having passed the mouth of the Mississippi.
Model of La Belle, 1 inch equals 1 foot
The ship was about 54 feet long and carried 35 passengers. It was originally to be carried on one of the other ships, but space was not available.
Archaeologists knew they had located the remains of the ship in 1995 when a bronze cannon was found with dolphin handles, King Louis’s crest, and the crest of the commandant of the French navy.
Restoration took seven years: Two months to remove the hull, two and a half years to clean the timers, two years to freeze dry the hull, and two years to reconstruct the hull.
Hull of La Belle
Vermillion was a trade item carried in La Belle. Native Americans used the cinnabar pigment to paint their bodies.
Over 1,600 Jesuit rings made of brass were also part of La Belle’s cargo.
Goddess of Liberty
Original drawings for the construction of the Texas capitol in 1888 included a statue to grace the top. This one is probably based on similar nineteenth-century statues of the Greek goddess Athena and represents truth, justice, and art. Texans call her the Goddess of Liberty.
The Goddess of Liberty near the time of her installation in 1888.
The original goddess was removed in 1983 and replaced with an aluminum alloy replica in 1985. The zinc statue was restored and is now housed in the museum. Her features were exaggerated to be visible from the grounds below.
The restored Goddess of Liberty in the museum
The Story of Texas Mosaic
The mosaic pictures Texas landscapes, with the sun setting in the west and the moon rising over the Gulf of Mexico. Texans through its history are pictured sitting around a campfire. They include a missionary, cattle folk, a Texas Ranger, a Women’s Airforce Service pilot, oil rig roughneck, frontier folk, a conquistador, an American Indian family, Buffalo soldiers, an African American woman, and a vaquero family. The mosaic is 40 feet in diameter and uses 47 colors of stone chips.
Detail of the Texas Ranger and his badge, made traditionally with a Mexican five-peso silver coin.
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