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Åland Maritime Museum

Field	Value
name	Åland Maritime Museum
native_name	Ålands sjöfartsmuseum
native_name_lang	sv
image	Åland Maritime Museum, 2019 (02).jpg
pushpin_map	Finland Åland
map_caption	Location in Åland
coordinates
established
location	Mariehamn, Åland Islands, Finland
type	Maritime museum
director	Hanna Hagmark-Cooper
website

The Åland Maritime Museum () is a museum in Mariehamn in Åland, Finland. It is located in the western part of the town on the sea on Hamngatan, about 1 km at the other end of Storagatan. Along with Ålands Museum, it is the most important museum in the islands and a monument to the history of Åland as holder of the world's largest fleet of wooden sailing ships. The foremost exhibit is a four-masted barque named Pommern, built in Glasgow in 1903, which is anchored behind the museum. The museum designed building is built like a ship's prow cutting into the land. It has been called the "kitsch museum of fishing and maritime commerce."

Museum layout

The Åland Maritime Museum is considered one of the world's finest museums related to merchant sailing ships. The building is laid out on two floors with objects relevant to the past glory of the shipping era. The museum has a library wing which has a large collection of books and photos. Souvenirs of books and picture post cards are available in the museum shop.

Exhibits in the museum

The museum created the central core of a ship depicting a mast, saloon, galley and cabins. The ships figureheads are on display along with the boats; the prominent figurehead displayed, a male figure, once decorated the ship, the "California". In addition, nautical trappings, a number of ships in bottles and sea chests are also on display. The Åland Maritime Museum also has one of the only authentic pirate flags in the world.

''Pommern'' – the museum ship

Main article: Pommern (ship)

The museum ship, Pommern, a four-masted merchant barque and windjammer which regularly operated on the grain trade route between Australia and England during the interwar years, is now anchored behind the museum as a display. This is considered as the symbol of Mariehamn, the capital of Åland. It is very well preserved.

It was launched in 1903 in Glasgow, Scotland, under the name Mneme, and was later renamed Pommern. Gustaf Erikson bought the ship in 1929. With a 26-member crew, it carried several tonnes of merchandise (mostly wheat during World War II). It won the grain race twice in the 1930s, and completed the route under 100 days at least four times. It has a record for running for 110 days at a stretch.

It is the centrepiece of the museum since 1957 at its present mooring in the western harbour of Mariehamn, after sailing for over 70 years. Cabinets in the museum display curios collected by the sailors from different lands; including piranhas and sharks’ jaws, shells and corals. A unique display is a "Jolly Roger" pirate's flag which is one of a kind.

References

Paul Harding. (2007). "Scandinavian Europe". Lonely Planet.
Brown, Jules. (2004). "The Rough Guide to Barcelona". Rough Guides.
Symington, Andy. (2009). "Lonely Planet Finland". Lonely Planet.
Johnstone, Sarah. (2007). "Europe on a shoestring". Lonely Planet.
"Aland Islands: Travel Guide". somuchworld.com.
"Mariehamn – Åland Maritime Museum". Planetware.
"The Åland Maritime Museum". Finland Sightseeing And Travel.
"Welcome to the Åland Maritime Museum – a museum for the entire family!". Natwestislandgames 2009.
"Australia, Cape Horn and stormy seas!". Aland Official Tourist Gateway.
"Cabinet of Curiosities". Ålands Sjöfarts Museum.
"The Ship Pommern (Mariehamn) (Åland)". Travellerspoint Travel Photography.
Sandström, Fredrik. (2000). "Mneme". Sailing Ships.
Bruzelius, Lars. (1996). "Sailing Ships: "Mneme" (1903)". The Maritime History Virtual Archives.
Bellamit, Philippe. "The grain races". pamir.chez-alice.fr.
"Grain – From Plough to Port 2009". Shipping Australia & the South Australian Freight Council.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

museums-in-åland maritime-museums-in-finland mariehamn museums-established-in-1954 1954-establishments-in-finland

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