Maritime Culture Centre (Branch of the National Maritime Museum)

What to expect

The Maritime Culture Centre (Ośrodek Kultury Morskiej) in Gdansk is a branch of the National Maritime Museum (Narodowe Muzeum Morskie) that brings two different visits together under one roof: an exhibition of traditional boats from cultures around the world and an interactive hall where you learn about the sea, ports and ships through play. It stands at ul. Tokarska 21-25, in a new building opened in April 2012.

The basic ticket covers the exhibition “Łodzie ludów świata” (Boats of the Peoples of the World) and the temporary exhibition “Bałtyk. Morze zielonej energii” (The Baltic, a Sea of Green Energy). The museum describes an exhibition devoted to maritime ethnology, “with a unique collection of traditional boats from different cultures of the world”. The interactive hall “Ludzie-Statki-Porty” (People-Ships-Ports) has a separate ticket. The exhibition spans three floors, and the captions are in Polish and English.

Visitors rate the Centre highly: on Google Maps it has 4.5 out of 5 from 2415 reviews (read on 25 October 2026). The neighbouring Crane (Żuraw) has 4.7 there from 4464 reviews.

Who it suits: families with children, because the museum designed the interactive exhibition with children and whole families in mind; children under 13 may visit only with adults. Also blind and partially sighted visitors: the boat exhibition and the exhibits of the interactive hall can be explored by touch.

Who should skip it: anyone looking for a historic interior. The Centre is a new building, put up after three years of construction on the site of the former Colonial Warehouse (Skład Kolonialny); you can see a medieval port building next door, in the Crane.

How long: the museum gives an average visiting time of 2 hours across the three floors. That is twice the hour it gives for the Crane, so treat the Centre as the main item of your visit and the Crane as a short addition.

Tips

• The interactive hall is separate. The museum’s price list gives: free admission on Wednesdays. This applies to the exhibitions “Łodzie ludów świata” and “Bałtyk. Morze zielonej energii”, while the interactive hall “Ludzie-Statki-Porty” has a separate ticket. On that day the Centre opens later than on other days (on Wednesdays 13:00-17:00), and the ticket office and last entry close before the museum does, so do not leave your visit until late in the day.
• Combined ticket with the Crane. The museum sells a combined ticket for the Centre and the Crane, as well as a pass that also covers the main building of the National Maritime Museum and the museum ship “Sołdek”. Both cover the Centre without the interactive hall; the prices are in the price list on the museum’s website.
• Quieter and darker on request. On special request, the stations that make unpleasant sounds in the interactive hall can be switched off and the lighting dimmed. This helps on a visit with a child who is sensitive to noise.
• No barriers for wheelchairs. According to the museum, the exhibitions are accessible to wheelchair users, the lift is adapted for people with reduced mobility and for people with visual impairments, and there are toilets for wheelchair users on site. Głos Gdańska adds that two step-free entrances lead into the building: from the Motława side and from ul. Tokarska.
• Lockers, cloakroom, restaurant. There are free lockers in the hall, as well as a cloakroom, a shop with souvenirs and books, and a restaurant. You will find toilets on the first, second and third floors.
• Photos without flash. Amateur photos and films may be taken for your own use only, without flash or a tripod.
• Guided groups. Tours for a group of up to 30 people are given in Polish or in English, and the group carer (one per ten participants) pays a token amount; the prices are in the museum’s price list.
• Watch out for holidays. The National Maritime Museum closes all its branches on several public holidays; before a visit in the holiday season, check the list of closing days on the museum’s website.

Getting there

• Address: ul. Tokarska 21-25, 80-888 Gdańsk.
• Bus line 100: according to the ZTM Gdańsk timetable, the stop closest to the Centre is “Żuraw 01” (about 20 m), followed by “Targ Chlebowy 01” (about 291 m) and “Targ Rybny 01” (about 300 m); all three are served by line 100.
• Stops further away: according to the same timetable, the “Długie Ogrody 01” stop (about 538 m) is served by day lines 106 and 111, and the “Chmielna 03” stop (about 581 m) by day lines 112, 138, 166, 178, 186 and 212.
• By car: the museum has no free parking spaces for cars or coaches; there is only paid parking nearby.

Nearby

The Centre is easy to combine with other branches of the National Maritime Museum covered by the same pass (distances in a straight line):

• Gdansk Crane (Żuraw), ul. Szeroka 67/68 - about 40 m. The museum sells a combined ticket for the Centre and the Crane, and in this port crane, built in 1442-1444, the average visit takes an hour according to the museum.
• Sołdek Museum Ship, ul. Ołowianka 9-13 - about 100 m. You can also buy a ticket for the Sołdek at the Centre’s ticket office, and the museum describes the ship as the only surviving steam ore-and-coal carrier in the world.
• National Maritime Museum - main building, Ołowianka 9-13 - about 100 m. The route runs through three historic granaries and ends in the Maritime Gallery; the museum gives an average of two hours for a visit, as it does for the Centre.

Background

The building you see today on Tokarska is not a historic monument. According to the museum, it is a new building, opened in April 2012 after three years of construction on the site of the former Colonial Warehouse (Skład Kolonialny). The Polish Wikipedia says the same: the Centre was built in 2012 on the site of the former Colonial Warehouse building as another branch of the museum.

In April 2012 the museum announced on its English website the grand opening of the new branch, called there the “Maritime Culture Centre”, for 28 and 29 April. Today the museum calls it a modern centre of knowledge about the sea, ports and ships. Wikipedia describes this branch as a modern centre of maritime education that runs classes for school groups on a large scale.