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

Nobel Museum

Hello everyone,

Between my interviews and trips for my project, I've had a good amount of time to explore some of Stockholm's other sights. I also have enjoyed quite a few nice afternoons in cafes and parks around the city. One place which I really liked was the Nobel Museum. It is situated in the old part of the city, Galma Stan, right in front of a beautiful plaza. Also in the plaza are the two oldest buildings in Stockholm.

The Nobel Museum

Oldest buildings in Stockholm

I had seen an advertisement on the metro for the Nobel Museum which said that on Tuesday and Friday evenings in the summer, admission to the museum is free. Who can say no to a free museum? So I checked it out one Tuesday, and it was fantastic.


I learned all about the newest Nobel winners as well as the history of the Nobel Prizes. Above these exhibits was this cool track on which small posters moved. Each poster had a picture and information on a laureate. Seeing all of those posters lined up is a great visual representation of how many people have won these prestigious prizes.

Laureates on track on ceiling

Line of laureates waiting to go around track

In the back of the museum was a temporary exhibition, where a photographer asked various winners to draw their winning project/concept on a poster with crayons. The photographer then took pictures of the laureates holding their artwork. It was really fun to see how they visualized their concepts, most with child-like sketches which were a stark contrast to their complex ideas.


The cafe in the museum has famous chairs, since laureates who visit the museum are asked to sign the bottom of a chair. Since I got into the museum for free, I decided to splurge and eat dinner there, sitting on a chair signed by so many impressive people.

The bottom of a chair

The chair I sat on when eating dinner

Overall, this was a really interesting museum and I learned a lot about the Nobel Prizes and laureates.

~Kristine

A Day in Gävle

Hello everyone,

As I mentioned in my last post, to get up to Axmar Blue Park I had to take the train from Stockholm to Gävle. After visiting Axmar, I stayed over in Gävle so I could explore the city the next day. This isn't related to my project, but I had a nice day. Here's what I did:

I perused my guide book and decided that I really wanted to go to the Swedish Railway Museum, mostly because I like trains. The train museum is located outside the center of the city, and the directions given were to walk down a specific street until it ended, then follow the bike path. Okay, I could do that. So I started down this street, which brought me from the big downtown buildings to abandoned storefronts to apartment complexes to pastel-colored homes...and finally to where the road ended. Past the road was a path, so I followed it into this garden community, which consisted of large garden plots and tiny, tiny cottages. The only 'road' in this area was the bike path. It was actually a really beautiful area, with fences covered in greenery and so many flowers. The only museum-related sign I saw the entire time was in this area, pointing me away from the garden community and towards a graffiti-covered tunnel which went under the train-tracks. In the last stretch to get to the train museum, the path went between the current train tracks and an old train yard. So I assumed I was in the right place! Finally I stumbled upon the Swedish Railway Museum. I must admit, half the time during that walk I wondered if I were heading in the right direction. I mean, you have to be a real train nerd or feeling adventurous (guilty on both counts) to actually walk all the way to this museum with very vague directions. However, it was totally worth it.

The museum had so many trains, from relatively new ones to the very first trains made by Swedish engineers. I learned a lot about the implementation of train systems, both in Sweden and in the world in general. I could even go inside some of the trains, and at the very end there was a simulation game, where you could see what it's like to drive a modern-day train, like the one I took back to Stockholm later that day. There was only one downside to this museum: it was a little creepy. First of all, the trains in the museum were all driven in on tracks, so the fronts all faced one direction. For some reason, the back areas of each room, near the backs of the trains, were not very well-lit. Which wouldn't be scary except for the fact that this museum used mannequins. So multiple times I was in the back of this big empty room (not many other people were in the museum that day) and I peered into a darkened room in a train, only to jump when I spied a person in the corner. Who turned out to be a mannequin. But seriously, this happened at least 5 times. Despite my few scares, I really enjoyed the museum.

Train!

And another train!

Inside a train

See the mannequin under the wheel?
Well I didn't until I was 2 feet away. Creepy.

Train simulator

So many cool old trains!

See how it gets dark in the back? 

The first tank engine, build by Swede John Ericsson

An outbuilding at the museum

After exploring the museum, I had lunch in their cafe-in-a-train and wandered around the outbuildings at the museum. I walked back to Gävle, this time knowing I was going in the right direction. I headed to the Gävle County Museum, the museum where Bosse works. I really enjoyed their various exhibitions. There is a gallery on the top two floors of Swedish artists, organized by decades. They also had a really old fishing boat from about 1000 AD in one of their exhibitions. I enjoyed learning more about the local county's history and culture, and I especially liked that the main staircase was lined with pictures of old Swedish ships.

The county museum

Cool anchor statue near museum

To end my day in Gävle, I sought out the smoothie bar recommended in my guide book. I had a quite delicious smoothie. As I wandered back towards the train station to head back to Stockholm, I noticed that the main shopping street in Gävle featured painted goats. The Gävle goat is a cultural icon in the city (you can read more on wikipedia, if you're interested), and these statues reminded me of the painted cows (or in VT, the moose!) from back in the US.

Painted goats

Another painted goat

That evening I took the train back into Stockholm. While I haven't done much traveling outside the Stockholm region, since there's so much to see right there, I enjoyed my little adventure north to Gävle and Axmar.

~Kristine