M/S MARITIME MUSUM / ELSINORE
The museum structure is aligned with Alexander Dorner’s vision of ‘atmosphere rooms’, which provide immersive experiences for the visitor, while also engaging the history of the site and utilizing the architecture itself to tell a story of the maritime world and its conditions.
Dorner strongly questioned the reductionist and minimalist approach to gallery architecture that he saw emerging at other gallery and museum institutions of his time, which today often is referred to as ‘the white cube’.
Instead, Dorner propagated for exhibitions spaces where various forms of expressions – such as art, music and architecture – would interconnect with one another in multisensorial and unexpected ways, thus enhancing the visitor’s emotional experience and leading to a more engaging experience of the displayed artworks.
Denmark is to a large degree made up of islands, which is why the country to a large degree is defined by its intime relationship with the sea.
This is also why the Maritime Museum is centred around the story of Denmark as one of the world’s leading maritime nations.
For more than a hundred years, between 1882 and 1985, the dry dock was part of one of Denmark’s most significant and progressive modern shipyards.
Inside the museum, a series of exhibitions tell the story of the last 600 years of Danish maritime history.
The museum opened in 2013. To secure the floor, 461 ground anchors were drilled 42 metres into the ground, in effect making the museum the tallest museum in Denmark, albeit almost invisible even when standing just next to it.
Without the anchors, the water pressure would make the museum float like a ship. The dock is 150 metres long and sits 8 metres below ground.
Uneven floors and irregular angles create the experience of being onboard an actual ship.
The museum has received international recognition and praise, from New York Times recommending a visit (in 2014) to BBC listing it as one of the world’s greatest new museums.
In 2015, Nation Geographic announced the museum as one of the world’s premiere ten architectural structures, worth visiting for the building design alone.
In addition to these media mentions, the museum has received many design awards throughout the years, including several “building of the year”.
