Docks are workshops for ships. They are built, repaired and maintained here. They are an important element of port infrastructure. How long have dry docks and floating docks actually existed and how do they work?
In a workshop exhibition, we provide insights into our collection and the digitized holdings of other museums and archives. The impetus and preparatory work for this came from volunteers at the German Port Museum. We are showing reproductions of historical photographs and drawings and asking how the exciting international history of docks can be made tangible using images. Which infrastructure, which technical developments and which political contexts, such as colonialism, can be seen in the pictures? What did work on docks look like and how has it changed?
References are also made to the historic four-masted barque PEKING and the challenges museums face in displaying and preserving such large objects. We invite our visitors to discover elements of the history of docks throughout the port museum: Where is the L-dock model? Who can find the side box of Dock 7?
Photo: Lutz Kuller