Exploring the Navigo Museum: A Fisherman’s History

Last week we visited the Navigo museum in Nieuwpoort. We last visited it a number of years ago when they had a photo expo from Stephan Vanfleteren. Since then the museum has modernised the presentation of its collection and is well worth a visit even if you visited in the past like us. The museum tells the history of fishing at the Belgian coast since roughly the Renaissance until today. Besides displays with text there a many paintings depicting fishing and scale models of fishing boats. Some portraits of fishermen from Stephan Vanfleteren are also on display. Many exhibits illustrate the life at sea of the fishermen. At the bottom level there is a small section with a couple of aquariums and typical fish from the North Sea. In the entrance hall there is a large skeleton from a sperm whale suspended from the sealing to admire. Although small, there is quite a lot of variety in the museum. We spent around one hour and a half strolling through the museum. If you have little kids that get through the exhibits fast then they can have some fun in a room with some fishing related games where they can also learn to fold fish from a piece of paper (like paper airplanes). After your visit you can have a drink or lunch at Estaminet De Peerdevisscher if there is room. They don’t take reservations and we were out of luck so we had to find a place for lunch elsewhere.