We planned the day well because the afternoon was hot and we spent it in the air conditioning at the Vasa Museum. Vasa was a Swedish war ship from the 1600s. It sank on it's maiden voyage just barely outside the harbor in Stockholm.
Vasa was one of the largest ships built in the Swedish fleet. This was during the age of pirates and naval warfare between many of the super-powers in Europe. Sweden expanded their fleet of ships to protect the large coastline of the country from other countries along the North Sea, in particular Russia and Poland. The ship could hold a full crew of 450 including 300 soldiers and 64 guns.
The museum offered free tours each hour in English and our guide is pictured below. He was a hairy fellow, but very good! Vasa sank because of engineering flaws. It was too narrow to accomodate the tall height. As soon as the sails filled, it tilted one direction very far, then compensated by tipping the other direction. At that point, the many openings for guns along the side filled with water and the entire ship went down. There were estimated to be 150 on board and about 30 died. It was a great failure for the Swedish navy.
Vasa sat at the bottom of the Stockholm archipelago for over 300 years. In 1961 it was lifted via cables and pullies back to the surface. The ship was remarkably well preserved in the cold waters of Stockholm. A team of engineers, scientists and historians set about the reconstruction and preservation of the ship to its present state. The majority of the ship is original, although the larger masts and ropes are all reconstructions.
In addition to seeing the ship, the museum holds a large collection of artifacts that were recovered from the wreckage. There are also multi-media presentations about the reconstruction and salvage of the ship. And a model of some of the quarters on board. It was a really interesting museum and very different from anything else I've seen in Europe. A must-see in Stockholm!
After the Vasa Museum, we stopped for some well-earned ice cream!
And we walked by the Abba Museum! We didn't visit but definintely got a picture - a Swedish icon if there ever was one!
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