Date: 28-Apr-2008
Time: 11:30
Entrance fee: 95 SEK

The Vasa is the world’s only surviving 17th-century ship. She is an art treasure, decorated with around 700 sculptures and ornaments.

She was set to sail on 10-Aug-1628 but sank only minutes later. The main reason for the Vasa capsizing was that the ballast was not enough as counterweight to the guns, the upper hull, masts and sails of the ship. At that time, there is no scientific methods of calculating ship’s stability.

The Vasa was salvaged with a largely intact hull on 24-Apr-1961, after 333 years on the sea bottom. Thousands of artifacts and the remains of at least 15 people were found in and around the hull. She was housed in a temporary museum called Wasavarvet until 1987, and was then moved to the Vasa Museum.

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A total of 64 guns on both lower and upper gundeck

By analyzing microscopic paint fragments over a period of 12 years, colours of some key sculptures are reconstructed

The size of Vasa warship in contrast with museum visitors at the bottom left

Example of how the Vasa will look like when painted with colours. Imagine if the entire ship is painted…