Rickmer Rickmers, Hamburg, Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

Rickmer Rickmers is a historic three-masted sailing ship moored at the St. Pauli Landungsbrücken in Hamburg, Germany. Built in 1896, this steel-hulled barque is now a museum ship and one of the most recognisable sights on the Hamburg waterfront. It gives a clear picture of the age of sail in a port that today is all container cranes and giant freighters.

The story behind it

Rickmer Rickmers was built in 1896 in Bremerhaven for the Rickmers shipping family and worked as a cargo sailing ship, crossing the oceans in the last decades when wind power still competed with steam. Later it changed flags and names, and served for many years as a training ship for the Portuguese navy under the name Sagres. In the early 1980s it came back to Hamburg, where it was restored and opened as a museum ship, moored in the harbour where it now welcomes visitors.

The ship also makes a good starting point for thinking about how shipping has changed. Another famous sailing ship of the same era, the four-masted barque Peking, was one of the Flying P-Liners, the last great cargo sailing ships, and is now looked after by the Hamburg port museum. Set beside today's container ships passing on the Elbe, these old vessels show how much ships have grown and how differently they are loaded.

What to look for

• The three tall masts and the web of rigging overhead show how many sails and ropes it took to move a cargo ship by wind alone.
• The steel hull and its clean lines are best seen from the quayside, where you can compare it with the working ferries and harbour boats around it.
• The view from the pier across the Elbe shows the shipyards and docks on the far bank, with modern cargo ships passing the old barque.
• The Landungsbrücken pontoons and their long hall by the water make a lively frame for the ship, with harbour tour boats coming and going.

Tips for your visit

• Give yourself about 30 to 45 minutes if you want to go aboard, or 10 minutes if you only want photos from the pier.
• You can visit the ship as a museum, so check current opening hours and entry details before you go.
• Morning light is good for photographs, and the quay is usually calmer before the harbour tour boats fill up.
• The Landungsbrücken are a short walk from the old Elbe tunnel, and you can pair the ship with a harbour ferry ride.

See it on a quest

You can reach the ship on foot as one stop on Waterfront Hamburg: History Walking Tour & Escape Game, a self-guided route along the harbour. The app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle on the spot, so the quayside becomes something to look at closely rather than walk past. One ticket covers the whole group, and you can start whenever you like, with no guide and no set time.