Richmond is no stranger to history — you’ll find historical markers on many city streets of major events that have shaped the Commonwealth and the country. For a few weeks in May, though, there was another kind of history in town — the history of the exploration era. It sailed-in taking the form of modern replicas of the Niña and the Pinta, two of the ships Christopher Columbus used in the journey that ended with the discovery of the Americas. The replicas were built almost identically to the way the originals were built (with modern adjustments, like engines, for example) and were constructed by shipbuilders in Brazil. The ships do actually sail the seas and were on a tour of the east coast of the U.S. as they stopped in Vriginia. There was no replica of the Santa Maria made, though, so the full exhibit consisted only of the two ships you see in the gallery.