Aberdeen Maritime Museum

Overview

The Maritime Museum in Aberdeen is centrally located near the Harbour, in the historic Shiprow, which wanders down from Union Street to the harbour.

The Museum tells the story about Aberdeen’s long relationship with the Sea and there are exhibits that chart the development of the city's harbour, shipbuilding industry, fishing communities and more recent pivotal role in the North Sea oil industry.  

It is an award-winning museum, and the building is worth a visit in its own right as it is a clever piece of architecture with a labyrinth of stairs connecting multiple different floor levels. We assume the architect was inspired to some extent by the structures of oil rigs. The museum houses a collection of well-presented exhibits covering all aspects of Maritime history and it is the only museum in Scotland to specialise in the history of the North Sea oil industry. 

There is a wide range of maritime themes ranging from the early fishing boats that operated from Aberdeen harbour through to the modern age, with several exhibits about the North Sea Oil industry. A prominent feature of the museum is a large-scale model of an oil platform that is suspended in mid-air so that you can view it from different floor levels within the museum.

The museum is a free attraction that will keep you occupied for an hour or so. Children will enjoy steering and diving the remote-controlled submersible ROV model in the Oil exploration section. However, we would say that there are not a lot of interactive displays to keep younger children entertained. 

Within a short walking distance of the Aberdeen Maritime Museum, there is an NCP multi-storey car park. The charges for this car park are quite high at ~£3.50 per hour, but there are cheaper car parks if you are prepared to walk a bit further,