Maritime Museum Rotterdam

The Maritime Museum (German maritime museum ) in Rotterdam is one of the largest maritime museums in the Netherlands. It houses, according to the Navy model camera in the Rijksmuseum, the second oldest maritime collection in the Netherlands.

History

For the public, the doors were opened to the Maritime Museum of the Koninklijke Nederlandsche Yachtclub51.9079861111114.48045 on 15 February 1874. At this time, however, had the collection already a long history. This Royal Yacht Club, founded by Prince Hendrik (1820-1879), organized in 1851, the first designed in the Netherlands exhibition on shipping and shipbuilding. The next year a model exhibition was set up in the same building. But the prince gave a significant number of models, valuable books, drawings and paintings from his possession. More donations from Rotterdam shipowners and shipbuilders left the collection to grow. However, the building engulfed many expenses and so one had to rely in the yacht club on extra income. In addition to renting the rooms to Rotterdam Companies entrance fees for the collection of models should remedy the problem. The opening is still considered a date of birth of the museum.

After the death of the Prince in 1879 the yacht club was disbanded in 1881 and the city of Rotterdam took over the museum. In honor of the founder of the Museum of the name " Prins Hendrik " has been added. That was the name the museum from 1881 to 1999 Maritime Museum " Prins Hendrik " Rotterdam. As 1930, the Mataró model was handed over to the museum on loan, the museum used an artistic impression of the model years as the official symbol of recognition and bookplates.

The building

1949 the museum the first designed specifically for a maritime museum building was handed over in the Netherlands. After an intermediate station, the museum moved into its present quarters in 1986 specially constructed building on Leuvehaven. This was designed by the famous architect Wim Quist building fits on one side at an angle of intersection and on the other side it offers out a long glazed shop front to the harbor. This creates a triangular floor plan that forecloses to the noisy street. Inside exhibits at galleries and offset planes the exhibition. This exhibit a so-called vademecum with a timeless thematic conception, rather than a chronological order, provoked so many reviews, because it is precisely the historical items that you have been expected in a maritime museum is not issued. Therefore, the Schatkamer and the Open Depôt has been introduced.

Collections

Over the years, over 1,400 ship models, 300 paintings and 5,000 drawings and prints, as well as 145,000 shipbuilding technical drawings, maps to 2000, 20,000 book titles and about 80,000 photos have accumulated. All objects are on the database MaritiemDigitaal searchable and accessible. In addition, outstanding museum objects are presented in the so-called Schatkamer and many others are visible through the Open Depôt as a study collection. The library is a reference library and stock on open access available.