The Maritime Museum

Southeast corner of Trossö
Blekinge
Southern Sweden
Sweden
0455-53902

http://www.marinmuseum.se

Type: Museum
Addmission Fee: Entrance is 50 kr/$5.50
Hours: The museum is open daily June-August, 10 am-6 pm, but closed on Mondays during the rest of the year

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Since Karlskrona had the central naval base in Sweden for centuries, what better city for a Maritime Museum? And what better place in Karlskrona than Stumholmen, the island connected by bridge to the southeast corner of Trossö. Karlskrona has had a Maritime Museum since 1752, making it one of the oldest in the world, though it’s only been on Stumholmen since 1997. Until the mid-1990s, Stumholmen was still a part of the Naval Base and not accessible to the public. The Maritime Museum is the one attraction you should not miss. The museum is in a rectangular building that stretches out into the sea like a pier and the way it is set up makes it much more interesting than a regular museum. An impressive display of pictures, paintings, maps and models shows everything from shipbuilding to strategies and tactics of battle. The tough life on board the ships during the many battles in the Baltic Sea in the 17th and 18th centuries is also well depicted. Perhaps the most impressive part of the exhibition are the giant ships’ figureheads in a room at the end of the building. Most of them were made by Johan Törnström, the most famous sculptor in those days. The ones in the museum are more than 200 years old in many cases, taken from ships that were used in battle. They are amazingly well preserved. From this room, you will also get an incredible view of the bay and the surrounding islands. The upper floor concentrates mainly on the modern era and a large part of it is dedicated to submarines, which is also fascinating.