From a free horizon to autonomous ships: The School of Navigation in Svendborg and imagined maritime futures,1865–2023

Abstract

As navigation developed from the nineteenth century onwards so did the education of navigators in Svendborg, the heartland of maritime Denmark. Svendborg’s School of Navigation has occupied three different buildings, each of which was built for the purpose of navigational education. The buildings from 1865, 1952 and 2023 were all designed according to the technological needs of the current time but also reflected visions of the maritime future. The aim of this article is to use the schools, their architecture and their educational practices to decipher the imagined maritime futures in Svendborg from 1865 to 2023. It is found that the sense of future change has grown stronger as the schools have changed, from valuing a free horizon and sextants to preparing students for autonomous ships.