The building that houses the museum was originally built by the Aragonese and was home to the Mercedari order, among the best known for their slave liberation activities over the centuries. The Sanctuary, on the other hand, became famous thanks to the wooden simulacrum of the Madonna that arrived on the beach overlooking it in 1370, leading to a great cult of the Virgin as the patron saint of sailors. The memorabilia in the collection are, for the most part, votive offerings of people who escaped shipwreck or slavery, some of them gifts from sovereigns and high-ranking families, such as the gold crowns granted by Victor Emmanuel I and Maria Theresa in February 1816. One can admire vestments, monstrances, chalices, precious relics, and an impressive silver anchor offered by Queen Margaret of Savoy. The showcases also hold sabres, decorations, coins, porcelain, sounding boards and bombs.
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