Put on a diving suit and jump into the water off Talamone, Tuscany: 10 to 20 metres below the surface, you'll find 44 marble statues, covered in the marine flora and fauna that have made them their home over the years.

They were placed there over the past decade by local fisherman Paolo Fanciulli, who later turned the initiative into the NGO La casa dei Pesci (“House of Fish”).

He started the underwater museum to prevent illegal bottom trawling, which had been destroying local ecosystems. Placing marble and cement blocks on the seabed prevents fishing nets from disrupting it, letting biodiversity flourish.

“It was precisely by going to sea that I saw the sea die,” Fanciulli told National Geographic. “The environment we live in must be respected.”

The sculptures were carved by Italian and international artists and vary in shape: giants lying on the seabed, seashells carved into marble blocks, and a large pair of eyes staring up at the surface from the abyss.

Now, the NGO is experimenting with the “House of Octopi” by submerging terracotta jars to offer shelter to the octopus populations currently endangered by illegal fishing.

Talamone is not the only underwater museum in Europe. In 2021, British artist Jason deCaires Taylor installed six massive sculptures around two metres below the surface off Cannes, France.

Modelled on the faces of local residents, the statues replaced old engines and pipelines which had been left abandoned underwater. They were designed to be covered in seaweed, shellfish, and bottom-dwelling organisms over time, becoming part of the local ecosystem. Today, visitors describe the sculptures as completely coated with algae, with fish and jellyfish swimming around them.

Taylor also created the much larger underwater Museo Atlàntico off Lanzarote, consisting of 300 sculptures designed as artificial reefs to encourage biodiversity.

They also bring tourists into direct contact with the environment in new, more engaging ways. “You have to learn to dive, so that we can be aware of what‘s going on below the sea level,” an official of Lanzarote‘s Centre of Art, Culture, and Tourism said. “There is no excuse – we are surrounded by sea, but sometimes we live with our backs to the sea.”

It was somehow intuitive to me that art is a powerful tool when it comes to raising awareness of the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation. But knowing it can actively protect the ecosystem, while also inviting tourists to physically get to know it, really takes it to the next level. I might book my first diving lesson soon.