Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Dunkirk Maritime and Port Museum originated in the initiative of former dockers who, since the 1970s, began collecting tools and testimonies of their profession. These collections, initially focused on traditional port handling tools (crocs, devils, ore dumpsters), gave rise to a professional museum in 1992. The institution was subsequently enriched by acquisitions and depots, including the Chamber of Commerce (Iconography) and the Museum of Fine Arts (Maquettes), extending its scope to port activities, navigation and local history.

The museum is housed in a building built in 1868, the former Bourdon store, which served as a tobacco warehouse. This emblematic place of 19th-century industrial architecture now houses two permanent collections: one "in dock", inside, and the other "float", displayed on the docks with historic boats such as the Duchess Anne, the largest sailing boat preserved in France. These elements illustrate the transition from traditional port to modern port, marked by the arrival of containers.

Managed by the ACMAPOR association, the museum promotes a broad institutional partnership, including the city of Dunkirk, the Chamber of Commerce, the large seaport, the department of the North, the Hauts-de-France region and the Ministry of Culture. It offers temporary exhibitions, guided boat tours, educational activities in collaboration with National Education, and takes part in events such as Heritage Days or Dunkirk Maritime Day, which he initiated in 1994.

The collections cover four main axes: port activities (towing, handling, shipbuilding), maritime navigation and its distant commercial destinations, the transport of goods to the hinterland (in particular via the shipbuilding), and the history of the port of Dunkirk, from its origins as a fishing village to its development into a vast industrial and commercial complex extending over 17 km of coastline. A large collection of photographs and models completes these testimonies.

The museum has dedicated infrastructure, such as an educational workshop, a projection room, a documentation centre and a shop. He obtained the Quality Tourism brand in 2010 and is affiliated with the Federation of Ecomuseums and Society Museums. Its current director is Dorian Dlongeville, the institution's curator. The site is also labeled Musée de France and benefits from economic support through a club of eighty partner companies.

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