Peter Tamm The first model ship

The private collection was started in 1934 by Peter Tamm—former chairman of the board of the Axel Springer AG—when Tamm was six years old.[1][2] As Tamm retold the history, the initial event was when his mother presented him his first model ship.[3] Prior to the opening in the HafenCity, the collection was called "Wissenschaftliches Institut für Schifffahrts- und Marinegeschichte" (Academic Institute of Shipping and Naval History) and located in a mansion at the Elbchaussee street and only open by appointment.[4] In 2004 the Hamburg Parliament approved a grant for a new museum in the HafenCity quarter unanimously, with an abstention from voting by the GAL party parliamentary group.[3] On 25 June 2008, the museum was opened by the German president Horst Köhler.[5]