On her maiden voyage, Vasa sailed 1300 m in the Stockholm Harbour and then promptly sank. 333 years later she was salvaged and 17 years of intense restoration work began to return her as closely as possible to her former glory (minus the brilliant paint job). Today we had the pleasure of visiting Vasa in her very own museum on the island of Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden.
A short ferry ride through the Stockholm archipelago brought us to Djurgården where a number of interesting museums and cultural landmarks are housed. We chose to visit The Vasa Museum as it is apparently a "must see" when visiting Stockholm. There was the option of The ABBA Museum but that will just have to wait for another day.
Not only is Vasa impressive in size but equally impressive is the amount of information available about the ship and the lives of those involved; from her commission by King Gustav II Adolf in 1625 to the unfortunate souls who lost their lives when she sank on August 10, 1628. Vasa's sheer size is both humbling and awe-inspiring. I can only imagine how impressive she must have been in all of her glory.
Interested in more details? From Wreck To State of the Art
Meet Gustav - at the time of his death on board Vasa he was between 40-45 years old and stood 160cm, one of the shorter men on board. He was no stranger to physical labour and suffered from tooth decay issues.
The things you can learn from a skeleton certainly are astounding.
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| The only Viking Ship we were to see this day. |
A short ferry ride through the Stockholm archipelago brought us to Djurgården where a number of interesting museums and cultural landmarks are housed. We chose to visit The Vasa Museum as it is apparently a "must see" when visiting Stockholm. There was the option of The ABBA Museum but that will just have to wait for another day.
Not only is Vasa impressive in size but equally impressive is the amount of information available about the ship and the lives of those involved; from her commission by King Gustav II Adolf in 1625 to the unfortunate souls who lost their lives when she sank on August 10, 1628. Vasa's sheer size is both humbling and awe-inspiring. I can only imagine how impressive she must have been in all of her glory.
Interested in more details? From Wreck To State of the Art
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| Despite being armed to the teeth, Vasa was not fated to do battle with any other warships. |
The contents of a chest found sealed and intact on board Vasa were as follows:
a pair of leather mittens
a pair of shoes and a pair of mules
leather for shoe repairs
a shoe last made of birch
a keg
a wooden spoon
a tool handle, probably for an awl
66 copper coins, worth 65 öre
a lump of wax
The things you can learn from a skeleton certainly are astounding.
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