The categories of museums that host shipwrecks are different: traditional naval museums, science and technology museums, as well as archaeological, ethnographic, maritime, and thematic institutions. This paper presents a series of personal reflections on these exhibition approaches, viewed primarily through the perspective of an underwater archaeologist rather than that of a museologist. It highlights the importance of considering the original context of a shipwreck – often submerged – and, where possible, of respecting its transformed nature, in accordance with the principles of the UNESCO Convention that promotes in situ preservation. A wreck, the result of a traumatic or intentional event, undergoes a profound transformation in the transition from an underwater environment to a museum setting. This process necessitates complex and costly conservation interventions, particularly for wooden remains, and exhibition design must account not only for the object's scale but also for the potential fragility of this unique category of macro-artifact. The discussion is framed around selected examples of best practices: some distinguished by their interactive and educational value, others by their adherence to scientific rigor. It concludes with an examination of recent museological approaches employing advanced technologies to digitally recreate and disseminate data without the need for physical removal of the wrecks – an innovative model that, in several respects, may represent the future of archaeological display in museums.
