National Maritime Museum

The National Maritime Museum is housed in a Dutch warehouse from 1671 and displays shipwreck findings, models of coastal vessels, and collections of marine creatures from the southern coast. The collections primarily come from the Galle area and document the maritime history of this region.

The building was a Dutch trading warehouse and later served various administrative purposes until Sri Lanka's independence. It opened as a museum in 1992 and has displayed the region's maritime heritage since then.

The exhibition halls show traditional fishing methods of coastal communities through detailed models and collections of fishing equipment and navigation instruments.

Visitors can explore two main galleries focusing on regional vessels and marine ecosystems. Tours and workshops are also available for school groups and researchers.

The museum's roof displays a large whale skeleton, while the collections contain artifacts from roughly twenty shipwrecks nearby. These findings offer a rare glimpse into the fate of vessels that sank along this coast.