The Royal Danish Naval Museum is a speciality museum, the main purpose of which is to offer the public a presentation of the rich history of the Danish naval fleet. The museum collects artefacts related to naval history, preserves these, and displays them for the public. The museum also carries out research within this and related areas. The Royal Danish Naval Museum operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture.The museum is situated in the beautiful, listed Søkvæsthus building in the Christianshavn harbour area of Copenhagen. This building was erected at the end of the eighteenth century and was originally intended to serve as a hospital. The history of the Danish naval fleet from the late Middle Ages up to the present day is presented at the museum. The museum is also responsible for collecting, registering, researching, conserving, exhibiting and otherwise informing about this subject throughout Denmark.
The crown jewel of the Royal Danish Naval Museum is its collection of model ships, which was begun as early as 1670, when the Admiralty ordered that models of all the larger naval ships should be produced. Models have been added to the collection now for more than 300 years. These are not only models of ships and ship details, but also of stern ornaments and figureheads, machinery and technical equipment, fittings, drawings and sculptures. Many of the items that were added to the collection during the eighteenth century are models of machinery and mechanical devices that were purchased abroad or acquired on the '"reconnaissance expeditions'" that Danish naval officers were ordered to conduct in order to gather information about technology and new production methods.
The Royal Danish Naval Museum thus contains much more than information about naval battles, cannon, uniforms and handguns. It contains an important part of the history of Denmark, which also involves art, architecture and other cultural artefacts that all combine to relate the fascinating history of the naval dockyard - the largest military-industrial complex and workplace in Denmark for 200 years.