The Vasa Museum

Hello everyone,

So a few weeks ago I went to the Vasa Museum. And now I'm finally posting about it! A week or so after this visit, I met with the director of research from the Vasa, and I'll post about that really interesting interview soon, but this is just about me visiting the museum on my own. The Vasa Museum is one of Stockholm's maritime museums, and the whole museum is centered around a raised 17th century shipwreck.

The Vasa: As seen upon entering the museum

The Vasa

The Vasa

A Little History...

The Vasa sank in the harbor of Stockholm in 1628 before it even made it out to sea. The ship sank because of its top-heavy design: when it became windy, the ship started to tilt to one side, and then the water rushed in through the gun-holes. There was not enough ballast in the bottom to keep the ship steady.

The gunholes!

Some people blamed the king for requiring the ship to have such heavy cannons, others blamed the captain and said the crew was drunk, and still others blamed the ship designer. In fact, before the Vasa set sail, there was a test for balance in the shipyard, where people ran from side to side on the boat to test how much it wobbled. The test had to be stopped because the Vasa was tipping too much. To me, that seems like an obvious reason not to set sail! However, the ship left Stockholm, on its way to pick up a larger crew at a naval station in order to join in the battles against Poland. The Vasa not only was built to be a warship, but it was decorated and ornamented to represent the power of Sweden. The ship was painted bright colors and was adorned with hundreds of sculptures. Many sculptures were of Roman or biblical origins. So the Vasa was to be a warship and also a symbol of strength and power. Unfortunately, it never made it out of Stockholm's waters.

Intricate carvings on the Vasa's stern

Graphic of what the stern's colors were

Painted replicas of some of the carvings
(The color was determined from color-analysis research)

Lion at the bow

Scaled replica of the Vasa, painted in the original colors

The Raising of the Vasa

 A few years after sinking, people salvaged the huge bronze cannons on-board. However, from the late 1600's to the early 1900's, the Vasa sat forgotten in the harbor. People had no idea it was so close to the city. In the 1950's, a researcher named Anders Franzén started searching for shipwrecks in the harbor, and he came across the Vasa. Franzén, the Swedish Navy and other archaeologists worked together to safely raise this ship and tow it to land.

Diving Bell, like what was used in the 1600's
to salvage the bronze cannons

Model of how the Vasa was raised using pontoons 

The shipwreck was raised in the 1960's, and over the next two decades the ship and the finds within it were preserved and archived. In 1990 the Vasa Museum opened. Today visitors (like me!) can walk around this huge ship and learn all about the ship's history, the raising and preservation process, and how the Vasa contextualizes warships, naval history, and daily life in the 1600's.

(That was the basic-basic history of the Vasa, from origin to now. I could write on and on about what I've learned about this ship, but there's probably a more expert source out there. If you want to learn more, look online. There's a lot of information available!)

Exploring the Museum

I had to wait 30 minutes in a drizzle to get into the Vasa Museum, but it was definitely worth it. As soon as I entered, I looked up at the massive Vasa ship and was blown away. The museum is five floors, and these levels wrap around the ship. I could see it from walking around the very bottom to being even with the masts up in the gallery level. What I really liked about this ship is that any restored areas were a smoother, lighter wood, so it was clear what was original wood. It was extremely impressive how much was original. Now you can see a saga of the many pictures I took of the Vasa!

Me in front of the deck

Vasa from the back
(You can see the various museum levels on the left)

Vasa's stern

The deck of the Vasa

Another angle of the Vasa

Bow

Good example of the levels of the museum
(from gallery in way-back and people on the left)

Looking down on the Vasa

A mast

Looking at the front

The bow

I wandered around the museum for over three hours. I took a guided tour, watched the movie, and went through every nook and cranny of the exhibitions. I was impressed with the variety of exhibitions. I learned about daily life in the 1600's, about paint restoration to discover what colors the ship was originally painted, about the maritime archaeology and the raising process, about the conservation process, about sea warfare in the 1600's, about the skeletons found in the Vasa, and much, much more. And all throughout this time, I could glance over to see this huge ship in the middle of the museum.

Model of how the Vasa tipped and sank

Scaled model of Vasa next to actual Vasa

Some artifacts found in the Vasa

Model of inside of Vasa

Part of the smallest of Vasa's sails

Ropes from the Vasa

Model of  Stockholm's shipyard when the Vasa was built

One of the skeletons found on the Vasa

The Vasa Museum really represents how much information one can learn from a shipwreck. While I was in there, I couldn't help but compare the Vasa to a time-capsule. This ship was preserved underwater, a relatively untouched vessel filled with coins, clothes, weapons, and even bodies from the 1600's. By raising the Vasa, the archaeologists brought history to the masses.

Preservation Issues

Of course, having a 17th century ship displayed in a huge museum has some issues. The summer of 2000 was very rainy, and some humidity seeped into the museum. This caused some problems relating to the preservation spray used in the 1980's to protect the wood. (Including some chemical reaction which I did not fully grasp). In 2004, the Vasa Museum installed a new climate-control system which now keeps the museum at a cool temperature, which is better for the ship. The museum is also kept quite dim, as light can affect the preservation process, too. Right now the museum is in the process of replacing all of the bolts in the ship. When the Vasa was raised, the rusted iron bolts were replaced by new ones. However, these new ones have started to rust, which speeds the wood's deterioration. Replacing these bolts with better ones is a very expensive process, but it is necessary to keep the Vasa preserved for future generations. This is also a good example of how preservation can have its setbacks. The preservation processes of today show that the processes used when the wreck was raised a few decades ago are actually not that good for the ship. In 30 years, perhaps the processes used today will be seen as harming the Vasa, too. It is hard to know the long-term effects of a newly-developed preservation process.

To Raise or Not to Raise a Wreck?

In relation to my project, the Vasa is an excellent example of how Sweden is promoting its underwater heritage to the masses. Were the Vasa discovered but left underwater, non-divers would have no access to the ship itself. In fact, sport divers would have little access, too, as the Vasa was partially buried in the muddy bottom of the harbor. Sure, people could see underwater videos and could learn about the Vasa through books and pictures, but people wouldn't experience that amazing feeling of entering the museum and staring up at a huge 17th century warship. There are a lot of differing opinions on whether or not to raise a ship (which I discussed with the Vasa's director of research, and I'll include in a later blog!), but no one can deny that the Vasa Museum shares information on maritime history and 17th century life to far more people than it would had the Vasa been left in situ. It takes a certain type of person to be interested in going to a maritime museum. But the Vasa Museum has a far greater draw than a regular maritime museum. Who wouldn't want to see an almost-pristine example of a Swedish warship from the 1600's?

Me in front of the Vasa