Around Stockholm and the Vasa Museum

In the year 1611, the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf inherited the throne from his father, Karl IX, who had only been king for just a few years. When he inherited the throne, he inherited several headaches to go along with it. Sweden was a poor country embroiled in a major conflict with both Poland and Russia. Soon after Denmark invaded Sweden in what is known as the War of Kalmar.

Peter would like me to point out that Denmark won this war.

This victory brought an end to many years of war between Sweden and Denmark. However, the newly crowned Swedish king wanted to make himself known around the Baltic region. He began busying himself with building a great naval fleet in order to defeat Poland. In 1625, he ordered four new warships to be built, the largest of which was the Vasa.

The Vasa was to be his mighty royal ship, the largest battle ship built up until that time. He himself dictated the dimension of the ship, and what was to be put on it, with little regard to sound ship-building principles. No one dared to question him, not even the Dutch builders he commissioned to build it. 64 guns were to be placed on 2 decks.

This ship was his pride and joy; over 1,000 oak trees from the royal forest were used. Copper was used for the cannons. It took three years to complete.

On August 10, 1628 the Vasa set sail on her maiden voyage, carrying around 150 crew members and a lot of armament. Less than one mile from it's port, the ship was hit with a gust of wind, causing water to seep into the open gun ports.

Then it sank 100 feet into the harbor there in Stockholm. Below is a map of Stockholm from around 1640. The number 9 represents the spot where the Vasa sank.



There it lay in the mud for 333 years. Several attempts were made over the years, beginning soon after the disaster, to try and salvage it. About the only things the divers were able to recover were the cannons (in 1664), sculptures, and carvings around the Vasa. It wasn't until 1961 that any of those attempts to actually raise the entire ship were successful.

Due to the conditions of the mud and clay, Vasa was still very much intact. You can read all about the salvaging operation here.

And so it was, almost 376 years from the time it sank, that I was able to visit the Vasa, which today is housed in the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. It is also known as the worlds best-preserved 17th century ship, and the museum itself is one of the most visited in all of Scandinavia.

And let me tell you it was, for lack of better words, totally cool to be walking next to a perfectly preserved ship from 1628. To be able to reach out and touch it (I saw no signs prohibiting such activities) was truly spine-tingling. It was awesome.

Here are some of the pictures I took. As you will see, it is a little difficult to get a decent shot. But these give you a pretty good idea of what it looks like.















For more pictures and information, click here.

Not only is the Vasa just a ship, but it has been called an art treasure. King Adolf had commissioned over 700 sculptures and ornaments to be made and placed around the vessel. You can read about that here. A sampling of which is here:



This picture is of a scale model of what the Vasa would have looked like right before it's maiden voyage:



And this is me, walking through a life-size model of the ship.



So if you ever find yourself in Sweden, I highly recommend you stop here for a visit.