Mac Rating: 0.00 | Votes: | Date:

Nine decks of a converted brick warehouse hold one of the largest private collections of maritime history in the world at the International Maritime Museum, which opened in 2008 in the oldest surviving warehouse of Hamburg's Speicherstadt. The vast nineteenth-century Kaispeicher B, dating from 1879, was restored to house the lifetime collection of the journalist and historian Peter Tamm, who from boyhood amassed an extraordinary trove of ship models, paintings, uniforms, instruments, plans and artefacts spanning some three thousand years of seafaring. Each of the nine themed floors, called decks in keeping with the nautical theme, explores a different aspect of the maritime world: navigation and the history of finding one's way at sea; the great age of sail; naval warfare across the centuries; merchant shipping, cruising and the modern container trade; shipbuilding; maritime art; and the science of the oceans. The holdings are staggering in scale, including tens of thousands of model ships, from tiny pieces to enormous detailed builds, among them models made of bone by Napoleonic prisoners of war, a model assembled from gold and one built from Lego, alongside hundreds of thousands of photographs, plans and books in its archive. Naval and merchant history are treated together, and the museum does not avoid difficult subjects, addressing war and conflict at sea. Interactive elements, a research library and changing special exhibitions complement the permanent displays. The building itself, with its weathered brick, iron columns and warehouse character, forms an atmospheric setting, and a cafe and shop round out a visit that can easily fill several hours. Set in the UNESCO-listed Speicherstadt close to the HafenCity and the Elbphilharmonie, and reached on foot through the canals and warehouses of the old port quarter, it is an essential stop for anyone interested in ships, the sea and the maritime heritage that made Hamburg one of the great port cities of Europe. Audio guides and seating help visitors pace themselves through the many decks, and a combined or single ticket gives access to the changing special exhibitions alongside the permanent displays. Its setting in the atmospheric Speicherstadt makes the walk to and from the museum a pleasure in itself, easily combined with the harbour and the HafenCity nearby.