A find on the Danube

John Crawford, another of Australian Sea Heritage’s print edition contributors is travelling in Europe. He came across a unique museum in a small town on the banks of the Danube.

John writes, to accompany his photographs:

This ship museum, at Spitz in Austria, is one of those gems that you occasionally come across. 

The 1:20 scale models on display are the boats of the Danube and the detail in the modelling is unbelievable. Even the timber used for the models was also selected on the basis of 1:20 scale.

Everything was made by hand in this small village by a model maker who is over 90 years of age, with a great eye for detail.

The large model is not a Danube vessel, but the detail is exquisite and it took 12 years to complete.