Osaka Maritime Museum, Maritime museum in Osaka Bay, Japan

The Osaka Maritime Museum was a city-run museum in Osaka Bay, housed in a glass geodesic dome of 4,208 panes designed by Paul Andreu. The dome sat in a 300,000 m² basin and was reached from shore by a 60 m submerged tunnel. Inside, four levels totalling 14,000 m² surrounded the replica ship Naniwa Maru.

The museum opened in July 2000 after construction started in March 1998. French architect Paul Andreu designed the structure with a glass dome resting on the water and connected to shore through an underwater passage.

The centrepiece was the Naniwa Maru, a full-size reconstruction of a 17th-century higaki-kaisen trade ship, about 29.9 m long with a 27.5 m mast and roughly 150 t capacity, built for some 1 billion yen. It was sailed in Osaka Bay in summer 1999, reaching just over 7 knots in 9 m/s wind, then enclosed inside the dome. Ukiyo-e prints, replica figureheads and shipwrights' tools surrounded it.

The museum stood on reclaimed land in Osaka Bay, reached from the shore by a 60-metre reinforced-concrete tunnel, 15 metres wide, that opened into the dome. The dome enclosed four levels totalling 14,000 square metres around the ship. The nearest metro is Cosmo Square Station, about seven minutes on foot.

The dome's glass panels were designed with varying hole densities to filter sunlight according to the time of day and season. Engineers developed special solutions to protect the structure from earthquakes and wave loads, since the dome rested directly on the water surface.