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| The story of the Vasa Battleship is fascinating. In the 1600's, King Vasa commissioned a ship to help in the battles with Poland. The king took a personal interest in the design - unfortunately. He asked the shipbuilders for two gun decks, as opposed to the standard one. When the ship was finished, it pulled away from the quay, heeled over in a small breeze, and sank to the bottom. It was found again in the 1960's, raised to the surface, preserved and restored, and finally moved to its own museum building. Aside from the ship, over a hundred sailors' remains and their gear was recovered - some of this material is on display in the galleries surrounding the ship. | |
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Map of the Vasa Museum, 8 levels from keel to upper deck. It was difficult taking pictures because the light level was kept low and the humidity high in order to ensure preservation of the ship. The scale was so immense that a camera flash was lost in the dark. |
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The bow of the Vasa; the bowsprit has been reconstructed. |
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Stern of the Vasa with many ornate carvings. |
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Detail of the stern. Most of these had detached while the ship sat on the bottom of the fjord - it was a scientific puzzle to put them all back together again. |
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Swedish coat of arms carved into the stern. |
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Replica of the gun deck, with one of the original guns. |
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Two original guns found on the Vasa. Oddly enough, most of the guns from the Vasa were salvaged by primitive diving bell technology shortly after the Vasa sank - they were valuable enough to put in all of the effort. |
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Model of the Vasa with the real thing dimly seen in the background. |
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Outside the museum, masts rose to the height they would have on the original ship. |
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Detail from the stern. |
