German Inland Waterways Museum as spurring redevelopment in the harbor area. The building conversion was designed by Architektur Fabrik Aachen (afa) and an American artist, Ron Bernstein, and made very little change to the building exterior while expanding the inner spaces to accommodate the exhibits. For example, a full-size sailing ship now occupies the former men's pool, while the second-story women's pool now houses a reconstructed barge. German Inland Waterways Museum The German Inland Waterways Museum (Museum der Deutschen Binnenschifffahrt) is located in Ruhrort, Duisburg at the nucleus of Duisburg-Ruhrorter ports which today make up the largest European inland harbour complex. The museum was
Ruhr condition for the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany. During the Cold War, the Western allies anticipated that any Red Army thrust into Western Europe would begin in the Fulda Gap and have the Ruhr as a primary target. Increased German control of the area was limited by the pooling of German coal and steel into the multinational European Coal and Steel Community in 1951. The nearby Saar region, containing much of Germany's remaining coal deposits, was handed over to economic administration by France as a protectorate in 1947 and did not politically return to Germany until January 1957,