German Inland Waterways Museum 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 founded in 1974 with purchase of the museum ship "Oscar Huber". In 1998 the museum was moved from the old town hall into the city's former indoor swimming facility, an Art Nouveau landmark which had been built in 1910, closed in 1986, and declared a protected historic site in 1988. The move allowed the museum the space to exhibit complete ships, as well
Ruhr breaks between the individual city boroughs. Thus the Ruhr is described as a polycentric urban area, which shares a similar history of urban and economic development. Because of its history, the Ruhr is structured differently from monocentric urban regions such as Berlin and London, which developed through the rapid merger of smaller towns and villages with a growing central city. Instead, the individual city boroughs and urban districts of the Ruhr grew independently of one another during the Industrial Revolution. The population density of the central Ruhr is about 2,100 inhabitants per square kilometre (about 5,400 per square mile)—low compared