Åland Maritime Museum

The Åland Maritime Museum, adjacent to the Pommern in the western harbour, tells the story of Åland's extraordinary maritime history. The islands produced a disproportionate number of the world's most accomplished sailors during the age of sail; as late as the 1930s, Åland-owned ships were making the grain run to Australia and back around Cape Horn when the rest of the world had moved to steam.

The museum covers the full sweep from Viking-era seafaring through the merchant sailing era, with particular depth on the late nineteenth and early twentieth century grain trade. Scale models, navigational instruments, ships' logs, and crew photographs bring the period to life. The building itself is modern and well laid out. Combined entry with the Pommern is good value.

things to do museum
A story
The Åland Islands were the last stronghold of commercial square-rigged sailing in the world. While the rest of the shipping world had converted to steam by the early twentieth century, Åland's shipowners — particularly Gustaf Erikson, who assembled the last fleet of commercial sailing ships — continued to operate windjammers because they could not afford steamships. The grain races to Australia became the final arena where sail competed commercially with steam, and Åland ships dominated them until the 1930s. The museum is essentially the archive of this final chapter of the age of sail.

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