Boutique Museums: Roman ships

A really good small museum is the Museum of Ancient Shipbuilding (Neutostr. 2b, 55116 Mainz, Germany; phone ++4961 31 28 66 30, www.mainz.de — click on “culture,” then “museum”) in Mainz.

It showcases the Roman ships found in the mud on the shores of the Rhine during construction of a parking structure for a Hilton hotel 10 years ago. Five Roman ships have been preserved, with life-size models built to show what the ships actually would have looked like.

There’s a workshop where you can watch people preserving, restoring and building wooden boats. You can easily walk through the museum in an hour, and I learned a lot about Romans and their river ships. Very cool!

We were there in May ’05 and August ’08 and enjoyed it both times. Entrance fees are nominal, about €2 per adult. There are English brochures, but you have to ask for them.

Open 10-6 Tuesday-Sunday.

MARTHA WILEY

Landstuhl, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany