Binnenvaartmuseum ('Inland Shipping Museum') is a floating museum in

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...

, South Holland, Netherlands, on the waterway near the former shipyard De Biesbosch.

Description

The museum is run by Vereniging De Binnenvaart (established 1990), which also runs the shore-based Binnenvaartcentrum. Binnenvaartcentrum collects documents relating to inland shipping in the Netherlands and elsewhere. The museum is centered around ''René Siegfried'', a decommissioned pusher boat ( nl, duwboot, a type of working vessel used on inland waterways). ''René Siegfried'' was built in 1963 by De Biesbosch for the Strasbourg-based (CNFR). In its day, it was one of the most powerful pusher boats on the River Rhine (which is a major European waterway). It had a crew of 11, later reduced to 9. In 1989, it was taken out of service because of overcapacity in the industry. It was saved from being scrapped, its engines were removed, and it was converted into a floating restaurant containing items of historical interest, moored on the Rhine at

Nierstein Nierstein is a town belonging to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Rhein-Selz in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location Nierstein lies in Rhenish Hesse on the Rhine between Mainz and Worms. In Nierstein the F ...

in southern Germany. In 2004, it was put on the market for sale; and the ''vereniging'' bought it, took it to the Netherlands, and refurbished it as a museum. It has been added to the Dutch ''Nationaal Register Mobiel Erfgoed'' ('National Register of Moveable Heritage'). In 2008, the ''vereniging'' acquired a decommissioned Rhine LASH carrier (registration number CG S 6013), and installed it as an extension to the museum. It is an example of one of the types of unpowered cargo carrier which ''René Siegfried'' would have pushed. In 2018, the ''vereniging'' acquired the French-built riverboat ''Marot'', and added it to their collection. ''Marot'' is a surviving example of a ''Fransemotor'' ('French motor boat'), one of several such boats built during the postwar years under the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

to help European recovery. It was fitted out in 1953 at De Biesbosch as a Rhine working riverboat. It was in service for 65 years (in 1970, it was renamed ''Jan van Voorst''), and was retired in 2018. The museum is staffed by volunteers (and as a consequence opening times are limited), and entry is free. In addition to its displays of model ships, memorabilia, and the like, the museum has put on several series of themed exhibitions. A centrepiece of the permanent display is the afterpart of the hull of ''De Jonge Jacob'', a wooden cargo carrier (a ') which wrecked in the

Dordtsche Kil The Dordtse Kil ( pre-1947 spelling: Dordtsche Kil) is a short river in South Holland in the Netherlands. The river is tidal and forms the connection between the Oude Maas river and the Hollands Diep. The river is for most part artificial in origi ...

near Dordrecht in 1858, and which was partially raised in 2006.

Pictures

File:Binnenvaart museum, dordrecht 2014 (54) (15241269535).jpg, ''De Jonge Jacob'', on display inside the ''René Siegfried''

Notes

References

External links

* Official website of Vereniging 'De Binnenvaart'. * * {{cite web , url=https://maritiemnieuws.nl/64107/de-binnenvaart-bestaat-25-jaar/ , title='De Binnenvaart' bestaat 25 jaar , website=maritiemnieuws.nl , language=Dutch , date=5 February 2015 , accessdate=24 March 2019 Maritime museums in the Netherlands Museums in Dordrecht 2004 establishments in the Netherlands