Renovation of Sołdek within International Project

– There is a large international project ahead of us, conducted with our partners from Kaliningrad – said the Director of the National Maritime Museum (NMM), dr Robert Domżał during a press conference held on 17 October 2019 under the deck of ‘Sołdek’ museum-ship.

The conference inaugurated the project ‘Two ships, Common Sea. Sołdek and Vityaz: Maritime Heritage of Poland and Russia’, which involves the renovation of ‘Sołdek’ museum-ship. The meeting was attended by e.g. the representatives of the project Lead Beneficiary – the Museum of the World Ocean, representatives of the project partner – the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University in Kaliningrad, as well as dr Fryderyk Tomala – the Head of the Association of Friends of the National Maritime Museum, Piotr Soyka – Chairman of Remontowa Holding Capital Group, Władysław Zawistowski, the Head of Cultural Department at the Pomeranian Region Governor’s Office and Waldemar Ossowski, the Director at the Museum of Gdańsk.

Within the project “2 Ships, Common Sea” – “Sołdek” – one of the landmarks in Gdańsk, will be given a new life, because since 1985, when the coal and ore carrier was converted into a museum branch, „Sołdek” underwent no such comprehensive and time-consuming repair.

– Whoever owns ships, incurs costs and has a lot of work – says Jakub Adamczak, Manager of Project “2 Ships, Common Sea” – We plan to send “Sołdek” to the shipyard in a year, namely in October 2020, and its repair will take several weeks. The ship will be towed to the shipyard where fragments of metal planking, ship’s structure and rivets will be replaced. The repair will also include the renovation and painting works, new electric system will be installed, steel structures on the deck will be cleaned, maintained and painted and the panelling will be replaced.

After the renovation, a new permanent exhibition will be installed at “Sołdek”; it will be a story about people related to the ship and its times.

“2 Ships, Common Sea” is a cross-border project, implemented in partnership with cultural institutions from Kaliningrad. The Museum of the World Ocean – is the project leader, the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University is the other project partner – This is a unique project, first of its kind with two ships: Polish and Russian. Our “Vityaz” is a research and survey vessel, ten years older than “Sołdek”, but equally beautiful. I hope that our cooperation will contribute not only to further contacts between the Polish and Russian institutions but will also intensify tourism. – says Anna Belova, Deputy Manager of the Science Department at the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University.

Project „2 Ships – Common Sea. Soldek & Vityaz: Maritime Heritage of Poland and Russia” is co-financed by the European Union under the Poland-Russia Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2014-2020.

This article was produced with the financial support of the European Union, under the Poland-Russia Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2014-2020. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk and under no circumstances can be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union, the MA or the Joint Technical Secretariat of the Poland-Russia CBC Programme 2014-2020.