Maritiem Museum & Buffel – A restored ship

Although I do not have much free time, I always intend to go to museums with my son. We both love natural things, so it’s pretty easy to choose one and both be happy. Nevertheless somehow I most of the time end up at the Maritiem Museum, a museum that belongs to Rotterdam just as much as its harbors do.

On the corner of Churchillplein, the white building housing the Maritiem Museum stands proud next to Leuvehaven, accompanied by the statue of Zadkine (check the Zadkine article) and the Kraneschipbrug. My son likes to go there a lot because of the children’s playground on the roof where a container company is copied in miniature. Children can climb in the hoisting cranes and shuffle containers around.

The other floors are filled with all kinds of maritime knowledge, among the maritime history of Rotterdam itself. What I thought was very impressive is the gigantic 3d map of Rotterdam, which shows what Rotterdam looks like now and how it looked like in the past. You could even crawl under it.

Most of the time I end up at the Buffel. The Buffel is an old ship that has been restored to its original state and is equipped with dolls and furniture, to show what life aboard this ship was like. Over the speakers you can hear the old sailors talk in their accents and jargon. It is Dutch, but nevertheless it puts an extra touch to it, to get you in the mood of the past.