The International Maritime Museum of Hamburg starts with the story of a little boy who grew up to become an avid collector of all things nautical. Throughout his life, Peter Tamm (1928 - 2016) collected everything having to do with maritime history. As a young child, Peter's mother always brought him a gift when he was sick and had to stay in bed — a miniature ship. And so his collector's passion was sparked. Today, over 1 million pictures,100,000 books, and 38,000 miniature ships, as well as countless oil paintings, nautical instruments, uniforms, maps, telescopes, and other nautically themed collectables make up the treasure trove stored within the International Maritime Museum.
The museum, located in HafenCity Hamburg, opened its doors the the public in 2008. The extraordinary collection is distributed throughout various exhibits over nine levels, with each exhibit telling its own unique story through artifacts. For example, you might wish to visit the world's largest bone ship collection on level eight.
Don't know where to start? Peter Tamm used to recommend that visitors start exploring at the top and work through the museum back down to the ground level. And get ready to do more than just look around — this modern museum takes an interactive approach. For example, the ship simulator on level one lets you navigate a 300-metre-long container ship through the world’s largest ports, like Rotterdam and Singapore.
'You've got to be crazy', Peter Tamm once said of his passion. He grew up to travel the world's oceans himself, writing for a local newspaper. He appreciated every aspect of maritime history, but took a particular interest in deep-sea research. Visit level seven to dive into this thrilling topic.
More information & events can be found on the museum's website.
Address
Koreastraße 1, 20457 Hamburg
Opening hours
Mon—Sun: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Getting there
U4 station “Überseequartier”
Bus number 6, station “Bei St. Annen”
Bus number 111, station “Osakaallee”
