Nordic  |  Europe  |  World

Underwater archaeology museums

These are museums of general underwater archaeology interest. Other European museums are listed under Authorities.

Nordic

• Swedish National Maritime Museum, Stockholm. Research projects are headed by Bert Westenberg, e.g. investigation of reported wrecks. The museum hosts a fine collection of old ship models as well as Sweden's largest UW archaeology library, photo archive, and the national wreck register, which is partially on computers but not on internet.
• Vasa Museum, Stockholm, Sweden.  Exhibits the 64 gun battleship sunk in 1628. Researcher Anders Franzén placed it on a search list and finally found it. Salvaged in one piece in 1961, helped by private donors and sponsors. Conservation with PEG took nearly 30 years. Despite that, the museum ship now suffers from sulphur acid attacks.
• Swedish Naval Museum, Karlskrona. The museum has a large collection of figureheads and its own 18th century underwater wreck fully visible below the building.
• Kalmar County Museum, Sweden. Exhibiting finds from the ongoing excavation of the battleship Kronan, sunk in 1676.
• Vänermuseet, Lidköping, Sweden. Keeps a wreck register and displays finds from the investigations in the sweetwater Lake Vänern.
• Medieval Museum, Stockholm, Sweden. Displays medieval shipfinds from Stockholm, eg the Riddarholmen ship, excavated in 1930, dendro dated to about 1525. The finds were partly on land because of both land rise and landfill.
• Maritime Museum of Finland, Helsinki. Hosts the national wreck register.
• Åland Maritime Museum, Finland. Ship models, wreck archives.
• Provincial Museum of Kymenlaakso, Kotka, Finland
• Norwegian Maritime Museum, Oslo. Hosts the wreck register for south Norway.
• Vikingskipshuset, Oslo, Norway. Displaying the well preserved Oseberg and Gokstad Viking ships.
• Norwegian Naval Museum, Horten, Norway.
• The Viking Ship Museum, Roskilde, Denmark.
• Ladby Ship Museum, Kerteminde, Fyn, Denmark. Displays 22 m long Viking ship found in a grave mound in 1935.
• Langelands museum. Responsible for underwater archaeology in the Fyns Amt area in southern Denmark.
• Maritime Museum of Denmark, Helsingør, Denmark.
• Danish Naval Museum, Copenhagen. Has a fine collection of old ship models.
• National Museum of Denmark. Hosts the Hjortspring boat and occasional temporary exhibitions.
• The St George Shipwreck Museum, Thorsminde, Denmark, has an extensive wreck list. The museum is responsible for underwater archaeology in the local region. 
   

European museums

• Estonian Maritime Museum, conducting underwater archaeological research.
• Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum, Bremerhaven, Germany, displaying medieval cog under conservation. Also displaying a very rare bronze ram from a Roman battleship. Don't miss the shipping simulator downstairs. Around a large pool visitors may (1999) radio-control models of modern tankers, liners, etc. Link.
• Schiffahrtsmuseum Rostock, Rostock, Germany .
• Museum für Unterwasserarchäologie, Sassnitz, Germany.
• Museum für Antike Schiffahrt (Museum of Ancient Shipping),  Mainz, Germany. Among the exhibits are parts of Roman warships found in the city's old harbour. Fullscale reconstructions have been made. Photo courtesy the museum. Ref IJNA 22.2 1993.
• Museum der Deutschen Binnenschiffahrt, Duisburg, Germany.
• Wikinger-Museum Haithabu, Germany. In this old Viking Age trading port, four Viking ships have been found and one is reconstructed in the museum. This museum is located just a few kilometres from Gottorp Castle, displaying the Nydam Boat.
• Centralne Muzeum Morskie (National Maritime Museum), Gdansk, Poland. Museum director is Dr Jerzy Litwin. UW archaeology is headed by Ms Iwona Pomian (photo). Among the excavated wrecks are a medieval wreck carrying a copper load, and the Swedish man of war Solen, sunk in 1627. Recent projects are General Carleton and the submerged settlement of Puck.
• Central Naval Museum, Vasilyevsky Ostrov, St Petersburg, Russia. Beautifully located in the former stock exchange building. When I was there in 1993, all exhibition text was in Russian.
• Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth, England. Henry VIII's battleship built in 1509-11, sunk in 1545, discovered in 1836, rediscovered in 1967 and salvaged in 1982. Conservation of the hull started in 1994.
• National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK. Has a fine collection of old ship models. The website also hosts Port, a well-made maritime web directory.
• Hastings Shipwreck Heritage Centre, Hastings, UK. Presents among others the Amsterdam, sunk in 1747.
• Scheepvaartmuseum (National Maritime Museum), Amsterdam, Holland. Displaying a replica of the 18th c VOC ship Amsterdam, built in 1990.  Link.
• Maritiem Museum, Rotterdam, Holland. Presents mostly shipbuilding and maritime history rather than underwater archaeology.
• National Maritime Museum, Antwerpen, Belgium.
• Musée de la Marine, Paris. This national museum presents several models of old wailing warships, some of them sunken and investigated.
• Museo delle Navi Romane, Fiumicino, Rome. Displays shipfinds from the silted-up Claudian harbour's basin, partly under the present international airport. Link.
• Museo Navale Romano, Albenga, Italy. Displays the Albenga wreck.
• Nino Lamboglia Museum, La Maddalena, Sardinia, Italy. Named after the man attributed to have started Italian underwater archaeology, this museum displays finds from the Spargi wreck.
• Museo Archeologico Regionale Baglio Anselmi, Marsala, Sicily, Italy. Displays one of the two Marsala Punic ships. Also illustrates the regional history. An exhibition with aerial photos clearly illustrates how the moles (wavebreakers) of the ancient Marsala port have been submerged since. On the same street there are also (Jan, 2002) two shops selling good Marsala wine, making a visit quite attractive. That wine is strong, so you may prefer doing the museum first.
• Museo Nacional de Arqueología Submarina, Cartagena, Spain. Link.
• Museu Nacional Arqueològic de Tarragona, Spain. Hosts a minor maritime display.
• Museu de Marinha, Lisbon, Portugal. Traditional naval museum, not relating (1999) much to maritime archaeology. Contains however a large collection of recovered astrolabes (more than 10).
• Hellenic Maritime Museum, Piraeus, Greece.
• Aegean Maritime Museum, Mykonos, Greece.
   

Worldwide museums

• Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology, Bodrum (ex Halicarnassos), Turkey. Exhibits finds from the Yasi Ada excavations.
• National Maritime Museum, Haifa, Israel. Displays the Athlit ram from c 204-164 BC, from the bow of a warship. Link.
• Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vergennes, Vermont, USA.
• The Mariners' Museum, Virginia, USA. Involved with the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary. It is the first such sanctuary established by the United States and is administered by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.
• Western Australian Maritime Museum, Fremantle, Australia. Exhibiting the excavated wreck of Batavia from 1629.
• Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney. The museum is beautifully set in one of the harbour areas, offering visits to floating historical ships.
• Maritime Archaeology Museum, Malacca, Malaysia.
   

There are several other interesting museums in the world, dealing with underwater archaeology. Find them in Abysso, Lars Bruzelius' list, at Yahoo, at Icom, or use a search engine. There is also a virtual museum on these pages. Athlit ram photo courtesy prof. Elisha Linder.