The National Maritime Museum is the UK’s leading maritime museum, with an incredible collection of historic objects ranging from iconic maritime exhibits to great British art. A new wing at the National Maritime Museum will present four brand new galleries that will tell the epic true stories of pioneering global explorers and their encounters with people, places and environments across the world’s oceans. With over 1,100 more objects on display, visitors will be able to uncover hidden histories, reimagine familiar stories, and reflect on their connection to the sea.

Dynamic new audiovisual displays are interspersed throughout the four new spaces of Pacific Encounters, Polar Worlds, Tudor and Stuart Seafarers and Sea Things. Visitors can follow 16th- and 17th-century European seafarers as they voyaged into the unknown in Tudor and Stuart Seafarers.  The challenges of Arctic and Antarctic exploration can be discovered in Polar Worlds where stories of these extreme environments are shared, and the human impact of the changing polar climate is highlighted. In Pacific Encounters, visitors can voyage to the world’s largest ocean and hear tales of exploration and exploitation. Personal stories from the deep are told in Sea Things where this rich object-focused gallery showcases various objects that shape the human relationship with the sea.

Throughout the new galleries, creative interactives bring to life the vast collections, with interactive touchscreens tailoring the experience for each and every visitor. Soundscapes recreate authentic seascapes, with audio narratives interspersed throughout to enhance the senses, and additional layers of film, photography and projection are used to accentuate the visual history. 

This impressive exhibition has been designed by Casson Mann with fit-out by Flemming Associates, setworks by Realm and media software designed by Clay Interactive and Squint / Opera.

National Maritime Museum's four new galleries open on 20 September 2018.