The story of the museum
An art centre in Bordeaux devoted to the cultural
and natural heritage of the sea
The Musée Mer Marine began with one man’s passion: to showcase maritime heritage in a city deeply shaped by its history with the sea.
He also wished to give his personal collection a worthy home, so that he could share it with the public.
A property developer with a love of both historic and modern architecture, an art lover and a discerning collector, Norbert Fradin had already spent many years safeguarding and passing on heritage treasures of all kinds, from medieval castles to contemporary creation, in order to build a bridge between past and future.
His bond with the sea goes back a long way. He was given his first model ship at the age of five; his taste for adventure and great sagas, nurtured in particular by the novels of Jules Verne, found fertile ground in scale models.
Keeping a child’s sense of wonder while building up an in-depth knowledge of maritime history and its heritage would guide the shaping of his collection.
In Bordeaux, he chose the Bassins à flot district and its 13 hectares of docks, so that the museum would be part of the revival of this former port area.
Now the second most important business and tourist destination in the Bordeaux metropolitan area, the Bassins à flot have, with the Musée Mer Marine, a place that reaffirms the role the ocean has played in the development of the city – for centuries one of Europe’s main gateways on the Atlantic coast.
The building itself draws on the maritime world, in keeping with its founder’s vision. Its design was entrusted to architect Olivier Brochet, known for his work on museums (the Musée de l’Homme and the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris, the Musée Fabre in Montpellier, among others).
Evoking the shape of a ship with a bold bow, the building is adorned with aquatic motifs and ripple marks, while the ever-present raw concrete and iron staircases echo the district’s industrial and port past.
With no load-bearing walls, long rows of large windows, a central atrium and “cathedral rooms” that let the eye wander across many different planes and levels, the building has a generous sense of space and a striking modernity.
The MMM opens its doors
In June 2019, in the heart of the historic port of the Bassins à flot, this private collection devoted to the maritime world revealed the full extent of its riches in a light, uncluttered exhibition design that lets visitors wander freely through a lively and spectacular history of navigation.
Thanks to the diversity of the collections, art is present at every stage, following the evolution of seafaring through the ambitions, superstitions and technical advances that humankind has projected onto the sea.
But how can we tell the story of the sea in the 21st century without addressing the natural environment, its fauna and flora, and above all the conservation issues that have become vital?
From the outset, the Musée Mer Marine planned to devote one floor of its permanent exhibition, as well as several temporary exhibitions, to these crucial issues. The maritime world and its stories have found a home in Bordeaux.
“This port that makes us dream of the sea, though we never see or hear the sea from it”François MAURIAC