Marinmuseum (previously: Shipyard Museum, Varvsmuseum; reserve: Shipyard Museum; translation: Maritime Museum) is a maritime museum located on the island of Stumholmen, in Karlskrona. It is the National Naval Museum of Sweden, dedicated to the naval defense of Sweden and the preservation of its naval history.
The Marinmuseum is one of the oldest museums in Sweden. The museum was founded in 1752, when King Adolf Frederick began to collect and document naval exhibits in the so-called Model Hall (Modellkammaren). He also ordered the preservation of ship models and shipbuilding equipment.
Between 1953 and 1997, the museum was located in the barracks of the Orlogshamnen harbour. Until 1963 it was known as the Shipbuilding Museum (Varvsmuseet). In the 1960s, ten figure heads created by Johan Turnstrom were brought to the museum. Since June 1997, the museum has been located on Stumholmen Island in the central part of Karlskrona. The Statens Maritima Museer organization controls the activities of the Marinmuseum, as well as the Stockholm Vase Museum and the Maritime Museum.
The exhibition features figured heads from Swedish ships, many of which were made by the sculptor Turnstrom, a royal naval sculptor who worked at the Carlscrona shipyard in the 1700s. Among them is the shaped head of the ship "Dristigueten". The Marinmuseums archive contains 4,000 drawings and maps, mostly relating to Swedish naval history; there are also paintings, drawings and models. The museum's topics include submarines, shipbuilding strategies, combat tactics and life aboard ships in the Baltic Sea.
A new section of the museum opened in June 2014, where visitors can see the very first submarine of the Swedish fleet, HMS Hajen, as well as its much more modern sister in arms, HMS Neptun, which can be viewed not only from the outside, but also from the inside.
