The Maritime, Fluvial and Harbour Museum of Rouen () is a museum dedicated to the history of the port of

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

, which is one of the greatest ports of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The museum opened in 1999, during the Rouen Armada, a festival of

tall ships A tall ship is a large, traditionally-rigging, rigged sailing vessel. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques. "Tall ship" can also be defined more specifically by an organization, such as for a r ...

which takes place every five years.

The museum

The main themes are: * History of the port, with photos, and an exhibition space about the destruction caused by

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

* Infrastructure of the port and the measures needed to render the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

navigable * Heritage of Rouen in the

Age of Sail The Age of Sail is a period in European history that lasted at the latest from the mid-16th (or mid-15th) to the mid-19th centuries, in which the dominance of sailing ships in global trade and warfare culminated, particularly marked by the int ...

, with an exhibit on the ships which transported

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

from

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

* The merchant navy, with numerous models of

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's List of seas, seas and Ocean, oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. ...

s, including some which formerly docked at or near Building 13, which now houses the museum *

River A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navig ...

Shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

Whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...

hunting, with a whale skeleton (see below) * The history of

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s, with a reproduction of the interior of

Robert Fulton Robert Fulton (November 14, 1765 – February 24, 1815) was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the world's first commercially successful steamboat, the (also known as ''Clermont''). In 1807, that steamboat ...

's ''

Nautilus A nautilus (; ) is any of the various species within the cephalopod family Nautilidae. This is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and the suborder Nautilina. It comprises nine living species in two genera, the type genus, ty ...

'' Visitors can see trawler and

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

motors, a fog warning bell which was formerly located in the estuary of the

Risle The Risle (; less common: ''Rille'') is a long river in Normandy, left tributary of the Seine. The river begins in the Orne department west of L'Aigle, crosses the western part of the department of Eure flowing from south to north and out into ...

surface-supplied diving Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. ...

gear and a reproduction of the

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

cabin of a 1960s ship. The skeleton of a whale (on loan from the Natural History Museum of Rouen) is exhibited in the centre of the museum. It is a

fin whale The fin whale (''Balaenoptera physalus''), also known as the finback whale or common rorqual, is a species of baleen whale and the second-longest cetacean after the blue whale. The biggest individual reportedly measured in length, wi ...

which was 7 years old when it died after grounding on a beach. A 38-metre barge, the ''Pompon Rouge'', is exhibited in the courtyard of the museum. Its hold has been transformed into an exhibition room about river navigation, including a model of a

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

. In addition, there are regular temporary exhibitions on a variety of topics, such as the Rouen

transporter bridge A transporter bridge, also known as a ferry bridge or aerial transfer bridge, is a type of movable bridge that carries a segment of roadway across a river. The gondola is slung from a tall span by wires or a metal frame. The design has been us ...

or the

viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

Pictures

Image:Vue générale du musée.JPG, General view of the museum Image:Pompon Rouge 001.JPG, The barge ''Pompon Rouge'', now an exhibition space Image:Cale pompon 1.jpg, The hold of the barge, with the permanent exhibition on river navigation Image:Moteur-Sulzer-6kd31.jpg, 28–tonne, 400 hp Sulzer motor (1937) which powered a trawler Image:MAQUETTESCHIAF.JPG, Model of the ''Marie-Louise Schiaffino'', a ship which often docked in front of Building 13 Image:Maquette du Petraia.jpg, Model of the ''Petraia'', a ship which docked often at the coal dock, across the Seine from Building 13 Image:CLOCHE DE LA RISLE.JPG, Fog warning bell, formerly located in the estuary of the

Image:Pont Transbordeur maquette.JPG, Model of the Rouen

Image:Squelette de baleine.JPG, Whale skeleton Image:Cabine radio.JPG, Reproduction of the radio cabin of a 1960s ship Image:Maquette du cuirassé Richelieu.JPG, Model of the 1939 French battleship '' Richelieu'' Image:Scaphandrier musée Rouen.JPG, Diving gear

The site

The museum is located in a former port building, Building 13, not far from the new Gustave Flaubert Bridge. The building was built in 1926, and was called Building M until 1966, when the Autonomous Port of Rouen (''Port autonome de Rouen'') was created. Until the 1970s it was leased to the Schiaffino Company, which transported wine between Rouen and North Africa and used it as a wine warehouse until a special wine building was built, and thereafter mainly for fruit. The building was subsequently used by a series of different companies until 1984, when it became surplus because of insufficient size.

External links

Musée maritime fluvial et portuaire de Rouen
Official site. {{coord, 49.445, N, 1.061, E, display=title, source:cawiki Museums in Rouen Local museums in France Maritime museums in France

The museum

Pictures

The site

See also

External links