Stockholm Vasa Museum

This is the Vasa Museum, home to a 17th century warship. The Vasa set sail on her maiden voyage on 10th Aug 1628 and sank in Stockholm harbour. The ship sank as soon as they raised the sails as the ship was top heavy without enough ballast. Once the ship keeled, over water poured in through the gun ports and she sank having sailed just 1300m. it is estimated that around 30 out of the 150 people on board died.















The wreck was salvaged in 1961 after 333 years under the sea. It took over a year and a half to raise the ship from the sea bed. They managed to keep the hull intact and refloat it to transport it to where they would begin the long process of preserving the ship.

The figurehead is a lion holding the heraldic arms of the Vasa dynasty, a corn sheaf (vasa) after which the ship was named. King Gustav II Adolf who commissioned the ship was known as the Lion of the North. The impressive figurehead  is 3m long.

You get some idea of the size of the ship looking down at the visitors below.

The ship has been beautifully restored with an incredible 98% of it original.

15 of the ship's sculptures have been reproduced in their original colours. It took 12 years of paint research to recover and analyse the colours. 

The three crowns have been part of the Swedish coat-of-arms since the 14th cent.

On the roofs of the Quarter Galleries are sea creatures (tritons and mermaids). Underneath are Roman Warriors.

Many of the ships 500 sculptures were found on the stern. Although it was damaged it has been painstakingly restored. The lighter coloured wood is not original.

If you are ever in Stockholm this is one museum not to be missed.