All Aboard: Maritime Museum Rotterdam

March 1, 2010 0 Comments 3375 views

“Situated in the bustling heart of Rotterdam, the Maritime Museum Rotterdam is one of the world’s top maritime museums. It was founded in 1874 and is the oldest maritime museum in the Netherlands.” – Maritime Museum Rotterdam website

Since Rotterdam does happen to have one of the largest harbour’s in the world, you would think that I would have made it to the Maritime Museum a little sooner than I did. However, I always glanced over its name on the museum list thinking “ships…b-o-r-i-n-g”. Little did I know that the Maritime Museum Rotterdam is filled with loads of fun things, which had I known, I would have visited much sooner than I did!

The Maritime Museum is located in the city centre of Rotterdam, about half way between Central Station and the Erasmusbrug. It is a large building, which apart from the ships behind it (only one of which is actually part of the museum) looks rather boring, even if there was a caged tiger making roaring sounds outside (not real of course!). Once inside, you get your ticket, hang-up your coat and head off to explore.

The first stop is the Feel the Rhythm of Rotterdam Port exhibition. In this large room, there is a miniature version of Rotterdam harbour, which lights up. On large screens you see old images of the city and the harbour, all whilst a soundtrack of ship building noises is played. At first glance it is all rather spectacular but after a few minutes it does become a bit repetitive and so I set-off in search of more interesting things to do. Up one floor and looking in on the exhibition is a row of computers where you can pick your destination and time period by touching the computer screen. This was much more exciting than the rhythm downstairs and it was extra cool to see footage of the main bridges being brought into the city.

From here you can head upstairs where the Glamour on the Waves exhibition was being held, one of the things I was keen to see. Now, whoever put the website together was pretty crafty, because I was ready to be able to walk into recreated rooms from the Titanic and other luxury ships, only to be greeted by a super small exhibition made up mainly of photographs and boards of information…disappointing!

The top floor turned out much better however, with the Animals On Board exhibit. Here you get to learn all about the animals that were transported between countries, how and why. The whole area is done as if you are onboard a ship and the exhibit has lots of activities to try. From the ‘match that animal to the food dish’ pots and pans activity, to the poo identification machine (yes, there really was one!), all interspersed with little stamp machines to chart your progress through the exhibit.

However, the best bit in my opinion, of the whole museum is the free entry onto one of the former naval ships dating back from 1868, known as De Buffel (The Buffalo). The ship itself isn’t huge but it does have several levels that you are able to explore. The ship is filled with information (in several languages), has loads of hands on activities (of which I only managed to break one but it was quickly fixed, phew!) and all the areas are kitted out with replica furnishings, realistic sounds and even some dodgy mannequins. I could have easily spent hours aboard, especially as there was little chance of sea-sicknesses but I was pulled off the ship by a Resident Cloggie who didn’t find shoveling coal into the furnaces as exciting as I did.

All-in-all the Maritime Museum Rotterdam is a pretty cool museum to visit and the exhibits they have change regularly. Access to the Buffel is via your museum ticket so don’t forget to pick it up at the entrance.

Off to shovel some more coal…

Cloggie In Training