The 2019 ICMM Congress took place in Sweden and the Åland Islands on 15-20 September 2019, co-hosted by the Swedish Maritime Museum and Vasa Museet in Stockholm, and the Åland Maritime Museum in Mariehamn, Åland Islands. Read our live tweets from the Congress on Twitter or see photo galleries from our members on the ICMM Facebook page.

Other recent Congresses have taken ICMM to Chile (2017), hosted by the Maritimo Museo Nacional in Valparaiso, and Hong Kong (2015), hosted by the Hong Kong Maritime Museum.

All three Congresses have enabled ICMM members to forge new relationships and partnerships with maritime museums in new parts of the world. ICMM is pleased to have gained a number of new members in each region as a direct result of each Congress.

2019 Congress delegates arrive for a tour of museum ship Pommern at
Åland Maritime Museum, Mariehamn, Åland Islands
ICMM members are welcomed to the 2017 Congress by our hosts from the
Maritimo Museo Nacional in Valparaiso, Chile
Former ICMM President Kevin Fewster (l) and Hong Kong Maritime Museum Director Richard Wesley open the 2015 Congress

Past ICMM Congresses

  • 1972: UK  National Maritime Museum, Greenwich 
  • 1975: NORWAY  Oslo
  • 1978: USA  Mystic Seaport Museum, CT
  • 1981: FRANCE  Musée de la Marine, Paris
  • 1984: GERMANY  Altona Museum, Hamburg
  • 1987: NETHERLANDS & BELGIUM  Scheepvaartmuseum, Amsterdam & MMPH
  • 1990: SWEDEN/ DENMARK/ FINLAND/ ESTONIA  Vasa Museum & others
  • 1993: SPAIN  Barcelona Maritime Museum
  • 1996: UK  Merseyside Maritime Museum & others
  • 1999: USA  Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia, PA
  • 2002: ITALY & SLOVENIA  Grado and Portoroz
  • 2005: NEW ZEALAND  New Zealand Maritime Museum, Auckland (last triennial meeting)
  • 2007: MALTA  Malta Maritime Museum, Valletta (first biennial meeting)
  • 2009: DENMARK  Fisheries and Maritime Museum, Esbjerg
  • 2011: USA  National Museum of American History, Washington, VA & The Mariners’ Museum, Newport News, VA
  • 2013: PORTUGAL  The King D. Carlos Sea Museum, Cascais
  • 2015: HONG KONG  Hong Kong Maritime Museum
  • 2017: CHILE  Maritimo Museo Nacional, Valparaiso
  • 2019: SWEDEN & ÅLAND ISLANDS Stockholm Maritime Museum & Vasa Museum, Stockholm, and Åland Maritime Museum, Mariehamn

Compiled from various sources – List does not include interim meetings held until 2004