Who We Are
We came here on our ships – this means
we are a technical museum. We brought
collections of shells of mollusks and living
fish, geological samples and sea charts –
this means we are a natural science
museum. We gathered tales of distant
countries and amazing people – this is
ethnography. We narrate maritime history
and the history of the fleet – this means
we are a historical museum. We preserved the cabins, labs, and cockpits of our ships – this means we are a memorial museum.
Also we are the museum of icebreaking,
fishing, the navy and even cosmonautics.
The most important thing we can tell you
today, however, is “Come visit us, be
astonished and discover the world and
yourselves”!
Director general of the Museum of the
World Ocean
Svetlana Sivkova
The Museum of the World Ocean was established by order of the RSFSR Government on April 12, 1990..
According to regulations, the Museum of the World Ocean is a Republican Centre for scientific research and methodological work and it is devoted to the history of exploration and development of the World Ocean.
The museum embankment of the historical fleet is a unique structure in Russian maritime museum
practice. The following vessels are moored at the museum quay: the Vityaz, the largest research museum
ship in the world; the only post-war museum submarine afloat in Russia; the Kosmonavt Viktor Patsayev,
uniquely designed for space communication and currently housing a museum exposition onboard; and the
SRT-129, the only fishing trawler in Russia. The embankment has stretched over to Saint-Petersburg,
where the Krasin, the oldest and only museum icebreaker in Russia is moored. The history of exploration
and development of the World Ocean is presented onboard the museum ships.
The coastal museum complex in Kaliningrad includes the main building and The World of the Ocean, A
Glimpse… — an exposition containing amazing saltwater aquariums, collections of seashells and corals,
geological and paleontological exhibits, as well as the biggest skeleton of a cachalot in Russia. It also
houses the exhibition and expositional buildings of Maritime Koenigsberg-Kaliningrad, Packgaus and other
objects.
The revived architectural monuments of the XIX century – the Koenig Gate, which houses the Grand
Embassy historical and cultural centre, and the Friedrichsburg Gate, which houses the Ship’s Revival
historical and cultural centre, are also a part of the museum.