Galata Museum

Genoa, the historic and once influential port city in northwestern Italy, not only has a multitude of historical sights to offer, but also boasts the largest maritime museum in the entire Mediterranean region, the "Galata - Museo del mare". So if you're interested in museums and have a special affinity for the sea or seafaring, it's worth a visit.

A lot of space with even more content

Standing in front of the museum, which is built in a modern design, you can already guess that the building has a lot of exciting things in store. The Galata Museum has a total of 10,000 square meters of exhibition space, extends over five floors and has 28 exhibition rooms in which visitors can marvel at around 4,300 exhibits. There are 40 interactive kiosks distributed throughout the exhibition area, which provide information about the different areas. The following tools are also available to help visitors find their way around:

Overview panels for finding individual areas
Guide, which helps to find information with the help of QR codes
Audio guides for better orientation
Multimedia guides for visually impaired and blind people
Sound system with induction loops for the hard of hearing
Electric wheelchairs for people with walking difficulties

Guided tours are regularly offered by the museum, suitable for adults or children. Especially for school classes, guided tours with certain thematic focuses are on the program. In order to secure a small souvenir or further information, the Galata Museum has a book store. In addition, the museum offers a babysitting service and in the integrated café you can let what you have seen and heard sink in over a cup of coffee or a light meal.

Insight into traditional and modern seafaring

The Galata Museum stands, how could it be otherwise, directly on the water, more precisely it is part of the Porto Antico, an old industrial harbor, which was transformed on the occasion of the Expo 1992 and today, in addition to the Galata Museum, also houses the largest aquarium in Europe and the Bigo, an elevator that leads to an observation deck.
The Galata Museum houses a wide variety of exhibitions that reflect the different eras of seafaring. Thus, visitors can marvel at the following attractions, among others:

Full-size replica galley from Genoa.

Ship models of the different eras (from galleys to modern ships)
Re-enacted scenes from daily life (such as taxation of goods)
Armory (with original equipment such as armor or lances)
S518 Nazario Sauro (a submarine used until 2002, which can be visited)
Area with nautical maps and plans of naval battles
Simulation of a storm as it occurs at Cape Horn

The Galata Museum, which opened its doors in 2004, relies on an interactive presentation of its exhibitions, so that adults, children and young people can get a lively and varied impression of seafaring in earlier times.

"Try to sail"

One offering that should be particularly exciting for children and young people is "Try to sail." The Galata Museum wants to teach its visitors about seafaring not only theoretically, but also practically. But this can only be done on the water. For this reason, training sessions are held regularly at Porto Antico, where visitors can learn how to navigate and sail. For this purpose, ocean-going boats are used and a professional crew is available to guide the training. It's a really interesting thing that young visitors are sure to enjoy.

The Galata Express

In the Old Port (Porto Antico), there is more to see besides the Galata Museum, such as the Aquarium. To help visitors get from A to B quickly, the Galata Express was created. This blue and open multi-passenger cab covers the entire port and takes visitors from the Aquarium to the Galata Museum, for example. A nice service that especially children will enjoy.

National Gallery of Genoa

653 m