The Vasa Museum

This was anamazing discovery. I wasnt sure what the Vasa was until I got their, other than its a ship and the most visited museum in Stockholm, I was thinking it was a floating ship a bit like Victory in Portsmouth.

The museum itself is a five minutes walk from the Army Museum and History museum (if that) and has the hop on hop off bus stop and water bus stop just outside so dead easy to get to and from.

Vasa was the Swedish Flagship of Gusrtavus Adolphus in 1626 and commissioned for the War in Poland.

The ship sank within 20 minutes of setting sale, very similar to the the Mary-Rose which was Henry the 8th's flagship and also sunk on its maiden voyage. What makes this one so interesting is that the brackish Waters of the Baltic have preserved the ship from shipworm so it is in uncannily good nic

Its like an eery incarnation of the Black Pearl Ghost Ship.

The museum itself is really interesting with lots of side exhibits, models and three floors of galleries to see the ship from different levels and angles.

This model with all the rigging is probably about 10 feet long and gives an impression of the full glory of the ship for the twenty minutes or so of sailing before it sunk in Stockholm.

There are numerous rooms and alcoves particularly on level one with displays, models, artifcacts and videos covering things from the role of Women in the Swedish navy and the reasons why the ship sunk so quickly. The below is a model of the dying moments of the Vasa.

The ship is in remarkable condition when you consider she sat at the bottom of the Baltic for 300 years before being recovered and put into the Museum.

This shot is from level zero which also has a recovered ships boat and a caged area where archeologists work on artifacts they can add to the museum.

This lovely diarama shows the shipbuilding area of Stockholm at the time of the Vasa.

These two are probably my favourite pictures, giving as they do a glimpse of just how beautiful and ornate the ship must have looked back in 1626 but also showing just how well preserved she is. The detail on the carving and releifs is just awesome.

This last is taken from the third floor gallery and gives a veiw of the deck.

A couple of parting pictures, the first is the statue of George slaying the Dragon, the second a shot from the ship as we sail through the Stockholm archepelaego which shows just howconstricted this area is and how difficult it was for the Russians in 1719 to attack here.

So thats the Vasa, of interest to some of you I hope. Even if its just a bit of inspiration for those Pirate games.

I think I will post a unit of Sweish Foot next before sharing some images from Tallinn in Estonia which had a couple of really interesting museums.

Thanks for reading.