The Polish Maritime Museum in Gdańsk

The Polish Maritime Museum in Gdańsk, a national institution of culture, is 50 years old. It is the largest maritime museum in Poland and one of the biggest in Europe. The Museum and its branches attract more than 240 thousand of visitors every year. At present it is financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

The Museum’s collections document the past and the present of the Polish economy, politics, technology and culture, principally concerning to shipping, maritime and river trade, boat and shipbuilding, fisheries, yachting and the sea rescue services. The Museum specialises in underwater archaeological research in the Baltic Sea. Teams of divers and archaeologists have brought out a number of artefacts from a number of wrecks. The Museum has a specialist Conservation Department that has developed several procedures specifically designed for preservation of objects from under the sea.

Apart from its exhibitions the Museum organises educational workshops and events, concerts, conferences on the maritime history and economy; it also has its own books published.

Nowadays the Polish Maritime Museum comprises the Museum Complex on the Motława River (the Granaries on Ołowianka Island, the Museum Ship ‘Sołdek’ and the Crane) as well as the branches outside Gdańsk: the Museum Ship ‘Dar Pomorza’ in Gdynia (the legendary vessel regarded as one of the most beautiful sailing ships in the world), the Fishery Museum on the Hel Peninsula, the Vistula River Museum in Tczew and the Vistula Lagoon Museum in Kąty Rybackie. A new branch of the Museum, the Maritime Culture Centre (next to the Crane) is planned to open in autumn 2011.