Underwater Museum Opens in France|法国水下博物馆

Underwater Museum Opens in France

The French city of Cannes has a new museum, and it’s entirely under water. The museum is made up of six statues and can be visited for free — if you can swim down to it.

The Underwater Museum of Cannes is located near the island of Sainte-Marguerite, which is 15 minutes by boat from the city.

Made by British artist Jason deCaires Taylor, the six cement statues are of faces with their eyes closed. DeCaires Taylor wants the statues to make people think about how the oceans are being damaged by pollution and overfishing.

Each statue has a larger side made to look like a mask for the smaller side. DeCaires Taylor did this to show the two sides of the ocean: how the sea looks strong but is actually at risk because of pollution.

The statues weigh a little over 9 metric tons, and are 1.8 meters tall. Each statue is the face of someone who lives in Cannes, including an 80-year-old fisherman, a businessperson and local schoolchildren.

The fisherman, Maurice, told deCaires Taylor how he has seen the ocean environment damaged over the years, writes Architectural Digest. "I catch only 20% of what I used to catch," he said.

DeCaires Taylor has more underwater art in places like Norway, Indonesia and the Bahamas, as well as more than 500 statues in an underwater museum in Mexico.