Museo del mare, Maritime museum in Arsenale Borbonico, Palermo, Italy.
The Museo del Mare is a maritime museum located in the Arsenale Borbonico in Palermo housed in a rectangular building featuring six sealed arches on the ground floor and classical windows on the upper levels. The collection documents the history of seafaring and maritime craft techniques through various displayed artifacts.
The Arsenale Borbonico was designed by architect Mariano Smiriglio and functioned as a shipyard starting from 1630 until 1943. The building was later converted into a museum and opened to the public in 1997.
The museum displays traditional maritime equipment, including fishing nets, foghorns, lamps, and navigation books called portolani. These objects show how fishers and sailors once carried out their daily work at sea.
Plan your visit for weekday mornings or early weekends when fewer crowds are expected. Guided tours offer additional insights into the collections and help you better understand the individual exhibits.
The museum preserves two cannons from the late 1700s and an engine from a submarine dating to 1909. These rare pieces show the technological development of maritime warfare during an industrialized era.
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