How many maritime museums can Hamburg take?

Controversy over cost explosion at the planned German Harbour Museum.

The Hamburg Taxpayers' Association, represented by its regional chairman Sascha Mummenhoff, has expressed serious concerns about the planned construction of the German Harbour Museum in Hamburg. Originally calculated at a cost of 185.5 million euros, this could rise to almost 500 million euros according to the Federal Audit Office.

The Hamburg Historical Museums Foundation forecasts 450,000 visitors a year, which is considered unrealistic in view of the current visitor figures for the existing harbour museum in Schuppen 50A (32,000 visitors) and the maximum 150,000 visitors to the International Maritime Museum Hamburg. Peter Tamm, Director of the International Maritime Museum, also criticised the lack of coordination talks between the City of Hamburg and his museum. "It is unHanseatic to ignore the experience of one of the most successful maritime museums in the world. This ignorance not only jeopardises the project, but also Hamburg's entire museum landscape," emphasises Tamm.

The Taxpayers' Association is calling for a more efficient use of available funds by strengthening existing maritime museums and historic ships that are already privately operated and do not require permanent public funding. "We are clearly against this waste of taxpayers' money," says Mummenhoff. "The German Harbour Museum must not become a billion-dollar grave. It is time to pull the emergency brake and avoid long-term damage to the budget and the cultural landscape."