Maritime, Fluvial and Harbour Museum of Rouen

The Maritime, Fluvial and Harbour Museum of Rouen is a museum dedicated to the history of the port of Rouen, which is one of the greatest ports of France. The museum opened in 1999, during the Rouen Armada, a festival of tall ships 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
• 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 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 navigation
• Shipbuilding
• Whale hunting, with a whale skeleton (see below)
• The history of submarines, with a reproduction of the interior of Robert Fulton's Nautilus

Visitors can see trawler and barge motors, a fog warning bell which was formerly located in the estuary of the Risle, surface-supplied diving gear and a reproduction of the radio 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 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.

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

Address: Hangar 13, Quai Emile Duchemin, 76000 Rouen, France
Hours: Closed ⋅ Opens 2PM
Phone: +33 2 32 10 15 51
Public transit access: Avenue du Mont Riboudet