Meeresmuseum Stralsund

Current exhibitions

About the museum

Stralsund teacher and collector Otto Dibbelt opened a “Natur-Museum” (nature museum) on June 24, 1951, in rooms of the former Dominican monastery of St. Katharinen, stocked mainly with objects from his private collections. Just a few years later the sea moved to center stage: from 1957 the museum was converted into a museum of oceanography and fisheries, and under changing names it developed into one of the most visited museums in the GDR.

From 1968 the first seawater aquariums were created in the basement, large tanks were added in the Katharinenhalle in 1975, and an aquarium holding 50,000 liters in 1984. The skeleton of a 19th-century fin whale hangs in the choir of the Gothic monastery church. By the mid-1980s the museum was attracting more than 800,000 visitors a year. Today it is the oldest site of the Stiftung Deutsches Meeresmuseum (German Oceanographic Museum Foundation), which also includes the Ozeaneum, Natureum and Nautineum.

At the end of 2020 the museum closed for a comprehensive modernization based on plans by Reichel Schlaier Architekten (Stuttgart), costing more than 50 million euros, to which the federal government contributed 25 million euros. The redesigned exhibitions opened on July 17, 2024, and the aquarium tour in an accessible new building section and the historic vaulted cellar in May 2025; the official reopening followed on September 29, 2025. In its anniversary year 2026 the museum is celebrating its 75th birthday.

Highlights

• Fin whale skeleton in the choir of the Katharinenkirche
• Caribbean reef: aquarium holding around 800,000 liters with an 80 m² panoramic window
• Sea turtles in the “Indischer Ozean” (Indian Ocean) aquarium
• Digital globe in the exhibition “Vielfalt” (Diversity)
• Life-size whale shark model
• Medieval monastery complex with historic vaulted cellar

Permanent exhibitions

• Vielfalt – Marine habitats from the Antarctic to the Arctic with specimens, a whale shark model and a digital globe showing ocean currents.
• Evolution, Mensch & Meer und Fischerei – A tour from the origins of life in the sea through human use of the oceans to fishing methods and sustainable fisheries.
• Aquarienrundgang: Tropische Meere – Aquariums on the Caribbean, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, from the large reef tank in the new building to the sea turtles in the vaulted cellar.

Founded

1951

Operated by

Stiftung Deutsches Meeresmuseum

Director

Prof. Dr. Burkard Baschek und Andreas Tanschus

Admission & discounts

Notices of Bürgergeld, basic income support or social assistance as well as city and state passes are not accepted for reductions.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: not available
• Audio description: no information

Certified under “Reisen für Alle” (Travel for All) (2025). All exhibition and aquarium areas reachable by elevator; accessible entrance at Bielkenhagen 10. Several accessible restrooms. Accessible parking space a few meters from the main entrance, more in the “Am Meeresmuseum” parking garage. Tactile route maps, touch objects, Braille and raised lettering, tactile museum guide as a PDF; audio stations at the globe. No induction loop, no texts in Easy Language (Leichte Sprache).

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide
• Hands-on stations
• Stroller-friendly: not available
• Baby changing facilities

Awarded the "Familienurlaub MV" seal. Marli the turtle guides children through the tour via a signage system, plus free scavenger hunts, many exhibits at children's eye level and some to touch. Family tours and workshops. Nursing and baby changing rooms available. Bicycle trailers, wagons and bulky strollers are not allowed in the exhibition; stroller parking in the foyer.

Getting there & parking

Amenities & dining

• Café: not available
• Restaurant: not available
• Museum shop
• Lockers

No café; snack point with two vending machines in front of the sea turtle aquarium. Museum shop in the foyer. Limited number of coin-deposit lockers in the foyer and in the basement, no luggage storage. Dogs (except service dogs) not allowed.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Private parties
• Corporate events

The choir of the former monastery church beneath the fin whale skeleton is available for rent; events are planned through the agency basic EVENTS.

Plan your visit