Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum
Encyclopedia
The Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum (German Maritime Museum) is a museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 in Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven is a city at the seaport of the free city-state of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms an enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the River Weser on its eastern bank, opposite the town of Nordenham...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. It is part of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community. The main museum building was opened on 5 September 1975 by then-president Walter Scheel
Walter Scheel
Walter Scheel is a German politician . He served as Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development from 1961 to 1966, Foreign Minister of Germany and Vice Chancellor from 1969 to 1974, acting Chancellor of Germany from 7 May to 16 May 1974 , and finally as President of the Federal...

, though scientific work already had started in 1971. In 2000, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the museum, the Hansekogge, a ship constructed around 1380 that was found in the Weser river in the 1960s, was presented to the public after undergoing a lengthy process of conservation in a large preservative-filled basin.

The museum consists of the building planned by Hans Scharoun
Hans Scharoun
Bernhard Hans Henry Scharoun was a German architect best known for designing the Berlin Philharmonic concert hall and the in Löbau, Saxony. He was an important exponent of Organic architecture....

 as well as several museum ship
Museum ship
A museum ship, or sometimes memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public, for educational or memorial purposes...

s in the Old Harbour of Bremerhaven, including the Seute Deern windjammer
Windjammer
A windjammer is the ultimate type of large sailing ship with an iron or for the most part steel hull, built to carry cargo in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century...

 and the Wilhelm Bauer U-boat.

History

The Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum (DSM) was founded in Bremerhaven in 1971 to replace the Museum of Marine Science in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, which had been destroyed during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Its task is to collect, record, research and present documents and artefacts pertaining to German maritime history
Maritime history
Maritime history is the study of human activity at sea. It covers a broad thematic element of history that often uses a global approach, although national and regional histories remain predominant...

. For this purpose, the DSM is equipped with laboratories and technical facilities for the examination, conservation and restoration
Vehicle restoration
Vehicle restoration is the process of restoring a vehicle that is either partially scrapped or otherwise life expired back to its original working condition. Automotive restoration can be applied to many different eras of automobile. Heritage railways and railway museums aim to restore and operate...

 of different types of water craft as well as other objects. It also houses a wide range of artefact collections and a dedicated archive and specialist library with adjacent reading room. The DSM is publisher of two periodicals as well as four scientific monograph series.

Research

DSM research is focussed on the following fields:
  • pre-industrial shipping in Central Europe
  • German shipping in early modern times
  • the impact of industrialisation on German commercial shipping
  • the history of marine research
  • man's use of the sea's resources through the ages

Exhibitions

Permanent exhibitions at the DSM include:
  • Central European shipping in the prehistoric, Roman and medieval periods (with the Bremen cog
    Bremen cog
    Bremen cog or Bremer Kogge is a wreck of a cog dated to 1380 found in 1962 in Bremen. Today it is displayed at the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven...

     of 1380 as main exhibit)
  • German shipping in early modern times (1500 to 1800)
  • German shipping in the post-1800 industrial age (with the paddle-steamer "Meißen" of 1881 as main exhibit), military shipping (with the "Seehund" class submarine of 1945 as main exhibit), industrial ships' engines (with engines and reactor control panel of the nuclear-powered vessel "Otto Hahn
    Otto Hahn (ship)
    Otto Hahn was one of only four nuclear-powered cargo vessels so far built. Planning of a German-built trade and research vessel to test the feasibility of nuclear power in civil service began in 1960, and Otto Hahns keel was laid down in 1963 by Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft AG of Kiel...

    " of 1968 as main exhibit)
  • Shipping Channels (navigation, marine cartography, navigation marks, navigable waters)
  • Outdoor museum port with coastal, inland and sea vessels from 1867 to 1985 as well as cargo handling equipment, buoys etc. Flagship is the world's largest preserved cargo sailing ship made of wood – the bark "Seute Deern" of 1919
  • An extension opened in 2000 is home to the other sections - polar and marine research, whaling, deep-sea fishery, sea-rescue as well as sailing as a sport and rowing

External links

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