Born out of the determination of former dockers to perpetuate the memory of their trade, the Musée Portuaire opened its doors in 1992.
In the welcoming surroundings of a former tobacco warehouse situated in the Citadel Quarter, which over the centuries has been at the centre of the port’s maritime activity, the museum illustrates the history of Dunkirk, one of the great North Sea strategic ports.
The three-master Duchesse Anne moored in front of the museum.
Photo: AGUR
At one time a Spanish fortress, then an impregnable citadel fortified by Vauban, it was a formidable corsair city for several centuries before becoming the premier cod fishing port in France. At the end of the 19th century it was the registered port of A. D. Bordes’ Cape Horners and later the focus of Operation Dynamo.
The exhibition traces the port’s spectacular thousand-year history from the original small fishing village to today’s vast industrial and commercial port that has spread over 17 kilometres of coastline. It also describes the lives of those intimately linked to the port: Iceland cod fishermen, sail-makers, ship-owners, long-haul captains, dockers and many others.
In a large exhibition space the work of the present-day port and the trades that enable it to function highlight the global importance of this vital link in the transport chain, a marketplace that is always moving and growing.
The final exhibition is a collection of ship models representative of naval architecture, from an 18th century schooner to one of today’s huge container ships.
In the dock opposite the museum afloat consists of a unique collection of ships representing maritime activity in the 20th century.