Maritime Museum & Occupation Tapestry Gallery

Jersey


Spread across five 19th-century warehouse buildings, this excellent museum brings to life Jersey's love affair with the sea. The island was once one of the biggest ship-building centres in Europe and you can trace the voyages of its many creations across a huge animatronic globe. Through its interactive displays, you can learn the difference between a gunwale and breast hook, listen to sea shanties, control the tide, assemble a boat and much more.

Short films about Jersey's creatures of the deep are screened in the attached cinema and the Occupation Tapestry Gallery displays Jersey's biggest community project – 12 tapestries depicting scenes of privations, daily life and camaraderie under the Nazi occupation of Jersey between 1940 and 1945.

The People Gallery is particularly engaging, with photos of sea-loving Jersey residents, from early 20th century mariners to whelk farmers, surfers and Jersey's best 21st-century chef.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Jersey attractions

1. Jersey Museum & Art Gallery

0.13 MILES

Inside a beautifully restored 19th-century merchant's house, Jersey Museum is an enjoyable romp through the island's history, from the area's first human…

2. Elizabeth Castle

0.81 MILES

On two interconnected islets in St Aubin's Bay, this imposing fortress guards the entrance to the harbour. Originally a 6th-century hermitage, then an…

3. Mansell Collection

1.14 MILES

A short walk or bus ride from St Helier, this art deco building hides a museum dedicated to Formula One champion Nigel Mansell – the second most…

4. Samarès Manor

1.57 MILES

Owned by the Seigneur of Samarès, these large, private gardens reflect its creator's passion for exotic and rare plants. The gardens were originally…

5. St Matthew's Glass Church

1.89 MILES

Unassuming and boxy from the outside, this church is well worth a look for the spectacular glasswork on the inside, done by French artist René Lalique in…

6. Hougue Bie

2.45 MILES

You have to stoop to enter the dark, dripping tunnel beneath this Neolithic burial mound that leads to the funerary chamber. The dolmen is over 6000 year…

7. Jersey War Tunnels

2.82 MILES

The eerie tunnels of a German underground military hospital have been converted into Jersey's best and most poignant museum, dedicated to the island's…

8. Pallot Steam Museum

3 MILES

This warehouse full of lovingly restored vintage and classic cars, locomotives, fire engines and farming machinery was a labour of love on the part of Don…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "the-channel-islands/st-helier/attractions/maritime-museum-occupation-tapestry-gallery/a/poi-sig/1594295/1342401",
      "destination": "Jersey",
      "continent": "Europe",
      "region": "Jersey",
      "position": "superzone"
    }