International Maritime Museum

International Maritime Museum is a private museum in Hamburg. The museum houses Peter Tamm’s collection of model ships, construction plans, uniforms, and maritime art, amounting to over 40000 items and more than one million photographs. It opened in a former warehouse in 2008. The private collection was started in 1934 by Peter Tamm—when he was six years old. As Tamm retold the history, the initial event was when his mother presented him his first model ship. Prior to the opening, the collection was called “Academic Institute of Shipping and Naval History” and located in a mansion at the Elbchaussee street and only open by appointment. In 2004 the Hamburg Parliament approved a grant for a new museum in the HafenCity quarter unanimously, with an abstention from voting by the parliamentary group. On 25 June 2008, the museum was opened by the German president Horst Köhler.