Åland Maritime Museum

Maritime museum in Åland Islands, Finland

Åland Maritime Museum

Ålands sjöfartsmuseum

Location in Åland

Established| 1954 (1954)
Location| Mariehamn,  Åland Islands, Finland
Coordinates| 60°05′49″N 19°55′35″E﻿ / ﻿60.096944°N 19.926389°E﻿ / 60.096944; 19.926389
Type| Maritime museum
Director| Hanna Hagmark-Cooper
Website| Museum website

The Åland Maritime Museum (Swedish: Ålands sjöfartsmuseum) 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 (0.62 mi) 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."[1][2][3][4]

## Museum layout

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The Åland Maritime Museum is considered one of the world's finest museums related to merchant sailing ships.[5][6] 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.[5][7][8]

## Exhibits in the museum

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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.[3] Paintings of ships (docked either in Hull, Antwerp, Hong Kong or elsewhere), done by local artists who were specially commissioned by the captain of every ship, are exhibited in the museum. Models of ships of different time periods are displayed on a uniform scale so that the difference between a Baltic schooner and an ocean-going windjammer could be easily discerned.[5][9] The Åland Maritime Museum also has one of the only authentic pirate flags in the world.[10]

## Pommern – the museum ship

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The museum ship Pommern at Åland

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.[11][12][13] 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.[14][15] 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.[3][5][16] 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.[8]

## See also

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* Western Harbour (Mariehamn)

## References

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1. ^ Paul Harding; Mark Elliott (2007). Scandinavian Europe (8th ed.). Lonely Planet. p. 171\. ISBN 978-1-74104-553-6.
2. ^ Brown, Jules (2004). The Rough Guide to Barcelona. Rough Guides. p. 728\. ISBN 1-84353-218-2. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
3. ^ a b c Symington, Andy (2009). Lonely Planet Finland. Lonely Planet. p. 246\. ISBN 978-1-74104-771-4. Retrieved 2010-11-04.
4. ^ Johnstone, Sarah (2007). Europe on a shoestring. Lonely Planet. p. 357\. ISBN 978-1-74104-591-8. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
5. ^ a b c d "Aland Islands: Travel Guide". somuchworld.com. Archived from the original on July 4, 2008. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
6. ^ "Mariehamn – Åland Maritime Museum". Planetware. Archived from the original on 28 December 2007. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
7. ^ "The Åland Maritime Museum". Finland Sightseeing And Travel. Archived from the original on 10 March 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
8. ^ a b "Welcome to the Åland Maritime Museum – a museum for the entire family!". Natwestislandgames 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
9. ^ "Australia, Cape Horn and stormy seas!". Aland Official Tourist Gateway. Archived from the original on February 17, 2007. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
10. ^ "Cabinet of Curiosities". Ålands Sjöfarts Museum.
11. ^ "The Ship Pommern (Mariehamn) (Åland)". Travellerspoint Travel Photography. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
12. ^ Sandström, Fredrik (2000). "Mneme". Sailing Ships. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
13. ^ Bruzelius, Lars (1996). "Sailing Ships: "Mneme" (1903)". The Maritime History Virtual Archives. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
14. ^ Bellamit, Philippe. "The grain races". pamir.chez-alice.fr. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
15. ^ "Grain – From Plough to Port 2009" (PDF). Shipping Australia & the South Australian Freight Council. p. 9\. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 July 2009. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
16. ^ "Åland:Pommern Museum". travellerspoint. Retrieved 2010-11-05.

## Further reading

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* Kåhre, Georg (1978). The Last Tall Ships: Gustav Erikson and the Åland Sailing Fleets 1872–1947. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-134-3
* Hagmark-Cooper, Hanna (2005). "Is there a place for women in maritime history? ", History.ac.uk, archived at on 13 August 2016.

## External links

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* Media related to Åland Maritime Museum at Wikimedia Commons
* Official website
* Articles on history and the sea