The Maritime, Fluvial and Harbour Museum of Rouen (french: musée maritime fluvial et portuaire de Rouen) is a museum dedicated to the history of the port of Rouen, which is one of the greatest ports of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

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

tall ships A tall ship is a large, traditionally- 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 race or ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

* Infrastructure of the port and the measures needed to render the Seine navigable * Heritage of Rouen in the Age of Sail, with an exhibit on the ships which transported

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with 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 slow ...

from New Caledonia * The merchant navy, with numerous models of cargo ships, including some which formerly docked at or near Building 13, which now houses the museum *

River A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

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

Shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befo ...

Whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

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

's ''

Nautilus The nautilus (, ) is a pelagic marine mollusc of the cephalopod family Nautilidae. The nautilus is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina. It comprises six living species in ...

'' Visitors can see trawler and

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

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 diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas using a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from sc ...

gear and a reproduction of the

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

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 finback whale or common rorqual and formerly known as herring whale or razorback whale, is a cetacean belonging to the parvorder of baleen whales. It is the second-longest species of ce ...

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) 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 entertainment * ''Lock ...

. 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 ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to 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 se ...

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