Shipwreck Conservation Centre

The Shipwreck Conservation Centre (Polish: Centrum Konserwacji Wrakow Statkow) is a maritime museum and conservation facility located in Tczew, Poland, within the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Established as a branch of the National Maritime Museum in Gdansk, it opened in 2016 in a purpose-built structure near the Vistula River Museum. The institution is dedicated to the study of historical ships, with a particular focus on shipwrecks, alongside the renovation and building techniques of watercraft. It functions as both an active conservation laboratory and an exhibition space, making maritime heritage accessible to the public through visible preservation processes and diverse historical displays.

The centre opened on June 13, 2016, realizing a project developed in collaboration with the Norwegian Maritime Museum in Oslo and the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo. The construction and establishment were financed through a combination of international and domestic cultural funding. The EEA and Norway Grants provided 85 percent of the budget, while the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage supplied the remaining 15 percent. The primary goal of this grant-supported initiative was to preserve and make maritime heritage accessible to young people and future generations.

The institution is divided into two primary components: the conservation workshop and the studio warehouse, which doubles as a large exhibition hall. The collection encompasses a wide chronological and geographic range of maritime artifacts. It features historical boats and fragments originating from Poland, including some of the oldest known watercraft dating to the 5th and 7th centuries AD, as well as boats from Africa acquired by Polish ship crews and the museum's underwater research team. Additionally, the holdings include a specialized collection of kayaks from the 1930s to the 1950s, large structural ship elements, and three historically significant yachts. Smaller artifacts, such as ship equipment and cargo, are also preserved and displayed.

Among the most significant large-scale artifacts on display is the keel and a side fragment of The Copper Ship (Polish: Miedziowiec), a 15th-century hulk. The centre also preserves three prominent historical yachts. Opty is the vessel used by Leonid Teliga for the first Polish single-handed circumnavigation of the globe, completed between 1967 and 1969. Dal is the yacht on which Andrzej Bohomolec, Jerzy Swiechowski, and Jan Witkowski became the first Poles to sail across the Atlantic in 1933. Kumka IV, constructed by Tadeusz Soltyk in 1937, represents one of the earliest welded yachts, marking a pioneering development in maritime construction.

Situated in Tczew near the Vistula River Museum, the centre occupies a purpose-built facility designed specifically for the conservation and display of large maritime objects. The conservation workshop is structured as a single, large warehouse hall without inner dividing walls, allowing for open, flexible workspace. A visitor mezzanine traverses this space, providing unique views of the ongoing restoration and reconstruction activities below. The workshop is equipped with specialized zones for steel working, boat building, and carpentry, alongside radiography and scanning equipment, and an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer for analyzing metal compositions. Heavy artifacts are maneuvered using a gantry crane with a five-ton capacity and mobile platforms.

The Shipwreck Conservation Centre operates as a branch of the National Maritime Museum in Gdansk. It offers educational activities, including museum lessons and guided tours of the conservation workshop. The facility is fully accessible to people with disabilities, and specialized guided tours are available for visitors with impaired vision, offering the opportunity to explore selected exhibits by touch. Exhibit descriptions are provided in both Polish and English, supplemented by interactive panels and mobile applications for further information. During conservation processes, underwater wood is treated in a specialized tank system with specific solutions, while metal objects are cleaned using high-pressure and micro-cleaning machines, all visible to the visiting public from the mezzanine.