Shipwreck Conservation Centre with Studio Warehouse in Tczew - construction of new cultural infrastructure of the Polish Maritime Museum in Gdańsk

Project facts

Project promoter:
National Maritime Museum in Gdansk
Project Number:
PL08-0020
Target groups
Young adults
Status:
Completed
Initial project cost:
€5,376,072
Final project cost:
€4,757,268
From EEA Grants:
€ 4,071,517
The project is carried out in:
Poland

Description

Bad technical state of the infrastructure of the cultural institution, lack of adequate exhibition and storage space, lack of space for cultural and educational activities, incompatibility of the cultural offer with changing models of spending free time and poor online accessibility of cultural collections are the most pressing problems. Construction of the Shipwreck Conservation Centre with Studio Warehouse in Tczew will reduce economic and social differences through protection, preservation and making the maritime cultural heritage available for future generations. Researchers, general public, local community and tourists are the main target groups. Through a partnership with Norwegian Maritime Museum and Museum of Cultural History from Oslo the knowledge and good practises in conservation of historic shipwrecks will be exchanged as well as Virtual Culture Institution, based on the digitalized objects, will be created

Summary of project results

The subject of the project was: - construction of the Shipwreck Conservation Centre with Studio Warehouse complete with the equipment of the Centre, - conservation of a number of objects selected to be exhibited at the Studio Warehouse, - development of cultural digital content through digitalization of objects, presentation of this content in the Studio Warehouse through innovative technologies and creating Virtual Culture Institution based on the digitalized objects. The project was the response to identified problems: - bad technical state of the infrastructure of the cultural institution, - lack of adequate exhibition and storage space, - lack of space for cultural and educational activities, - lack of infrastructure suitable for visitors with special needs, - incompatibility of the cultural offer with changing models of spending free time, - poor online accessibility of cultural collections. The goal of the project was to contribute to reduction of economic and social differences through protection, preservation and making the maritime cultural heritage available for future generations. The immediate goal was: increasing accessibility to the high quality cultural and educational offer for different groups of recipients and protection of cultural heritage. Realization of the project resulted in improvement of quality and attractiveness of the Polish cultural offer, its better distribution and better use of national heritage objects. Thus attractiveness of the region and the country for the local population as well as foreign tourists increased, which contributed into growing profit from tourism and culture. The project contributed directly to equal opportunities in the access to culture and cultural education of various social groups, with particular emphasis on people with disabilities. It also had an impact on the activation of groups at risk of social exclusion through the creation of conditions for cultural activities and skills development. Implementation of innovative educational offer enables the development of individual interests in connection with the curricula of the various levels of education, and promotes the integration of different social groups and strengthens identification with the place of residence. Thanks to the project there was an increase in awareness and activation of organizations and individual members in the protection of cultural heritage whose qualities enable deployment on many levels of the idea of "unity in diversity".

Summary of bilateral results

Apart from the exchanging knowledge and good practices under Bilateral Cooperation, the international conference was held and the post-conference book was published as a part of the project "The Shipwreck Conservation Centre with Studio Warehouse in Tczew - construction of new cultural infrastructure of the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk". It was an opportunity to strengthen cooperation between the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk (NMM), Norwegian Maritime Museum and Museum of Cultural History: University in Oslo involved in the project. An international conference Condition.2015 took place between 19th and 22nd May 2015 at the NMM in Gdańsk. It was devoted to aspects of conservation of archeological objects discovered during the exploration of the seabed as well as digitization of large objects outside controlled studio environment. An aim of Condition.2015 Conference was to gather scientists, experts and specialists from conservation and digitization field to exchange knowledge, practice and good practice. For the first two days conservators from all around Europe discussed topics such as conservation of archaeological waterlogged wood and other organic materials as well as scientific research supporting conservation process. The last two days were devoted to digitization and aspects of photography, photogrammetry and 3D documentation. Additionally, the project implementation was cause of interest of the representatives of the Herring Era Museum in Siglufjordur in Iceland. The head of the Icelandic museum was highly interested in the new infrastructure of National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk (NMM) – Shipwreck Conservation Centre in Tczew in context of their plans of the redevelopment of the Studio Warehouse in Siglufjordur. The cooperation, initiated by exchanging mails and conversations, have resulted in the study visit of the representatives of the Herring Era Museum (HEM) in January 16-20, 2017. The specialists and conservators from NMM shared with the representatives of HEM their experience in appropriate planning of storage area and its operation at the later stage. The meeting of both institutions also allowed to verify the priority actions for each institution and to identify potential areas for cooperation in the future.