LERA Designs La Belle Exhibit for the Bullock Texas State History Museum
The La Belle set sail from France in 1684, it sunk in the Matagorda Bay on the Texas coast in 1686. Following renewed interest and decades of research and searching, the lost vessel was located in 1995. When archaeologists began to excavate the wreckage of La Belle, they found that the ship's hull and timber had been preserved for three centuries in the Matagorda Bay mud. La Belle was over 54 ft long and could hold up to 45 tons of cargo. Millions of artifacts have also been recovered in the wreckage.
A new exhibit will showcase what the Bullock Museum calls “One of the most important shipwreck discoveries in North America.” LERA is creating a structural glass platform over 60 feet long which will allow viewers to walk over the recovered and preserved hull and timber elements of the ship.
