Devotional Pendant
Physical Object
1986.008.0015
Nuestra Señora de Atocha (1622)
circa 1600
A gold medallion from the wreck of the 1622 galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha is the only item from the site to bear a likeness of the ship’s namesake. Nuestra Señora de Atocha (Our Lady of Atocha), or the Atocha Virgin, is the oldest patron Saint of Madrid and for centuries has been regarded as the protector of the royal families. She holds the infant Jesus in one arm, while extending an apple, a symbolic gift to the world, in the other. This 3-centimeter-tall medallion was suspended from a chain and appears to have one been adorned with jewels (likely pearls) suspended by gold wires. It is not known who on the doomed galleon owned this piece.