You can see this magnificent ship at the Vasa Museum at Djurgården. On June 15, 1990, the museum was officially inaugurated by Carl XVI Gustaf. The museum has since been visited by millions of interested people from all over the world.
History
In 1611, Gustav II Adolf ascended the throne. Sweden was then a great power and participated in several wars against Russia, Poland and Denmark. Here at home in Sweden, new cities grew up like Gothenburg. The king wanted to show his power and Sweden's warrior spirit with a large and majestic warship. The idea was to use Vaasa in the ongoing wars that ravaged. Since 1625, Sweden was at war with Poland and the Thirty Years' War was in full swing in Germany. They also wanted to show Denmark that they were as good as those out at sea.
The whole of Stockholm is involved in the construction of Vasa
In 1625, the ship Vasa began to be built out on Skeppsholmen's shipyard today Blasieholmen. The shipbuilder was Henrik Hybertsson, but he would never see Vaasa clearly when he became ill and died in the spring of 1627. During this time when Vaasa was being built, the whole of Stockholm was involved in the construction and everything that was to be brought on board. It is said that all bakers in Stockholm worked day and night to bake bread that would be taken on the trip. In the end, it went so far that they could no longer bear it and rebelled on Stortorget. This was not popular and to set an example, he who started the uprising was beheaded. Many women worked with candle casting and made clothes etc.
August 10, 1628 - Vasa Maiden voyage
It was a fine day on August 10, 1628 when Vaasa was to sail on its maiden voyage through the port of Stockholm. The cannon hatches were open and a salute was fired when they began to leave the port of Stockholm. Included on the ship were the captain and all his shipmen but also wives to some extent as it was customary for them to sail with the first piece. Despite the fact that there was hardly any wind that day, a couple of gusts came which made Vaasa start to heel. Eventually she heeled so hard that the open cannon shutters began to take in water.
Then everything went very fast, when water began to rush into the battery deck, the men did not have a chance to either get water out or get Vaasa on the right keel, but the only thing they could do was try to save themselves. Vasa sank to a depth of 32 meters, which made the mast tops visible above the water surface. Despite the fact that it was close to land and several small boats out there that came to the rescue, about 30 people died that day.
The Vasa wreck is found after over 300 years on the seabed
Even though salvage was started in the days after the sinking, it was not possible to salvage Vaasa and its contents. 30 years later in 1664 they tried to carry Vasa's cannons but they only got 2 of the more than 50 cannons on board. It was not until about 300 years later in 1956 that Vaasa was found again on the seabed. It was Anders Franzén and the diver Per Edvin Fälting who found Vaasa. Then after about 2 years of searching.
The wreck turned out to be almost intact but of course parts had been destroyed both due to the sinking and number of years in the sea and previous salvage attempts. But despite this, Vaasa was well preserved. This is due to the fact that the water of the Baltic Sea is brackish and lacks the devastating shipworm found in warmer and saltier waters.
April 24, 1961 - Vasa is salvaged
Despite the fact that Vaasa was found 5 years earlier, it was a lot of work to get Vaasa up. A lot of renovation had to be done under water as Vaasa would otherwise never have been able to be salvaged. Then it was time, at. 9.03 on April 24, 1961, Vaasa broke the water surface. It must have been a fantastic sight for all those gathered to view this. And there were many who were curious about both the Swedish and foreign press and television was in place. Now began the time-consuming conservation work so that Vaasa can be preserved for posterity. For 17 years, Vaasa was sprayed with a chemical solution that would replace the water that Vaasa was full of.
