The Vasa Museum: A Surreal Exploration

The Vasa Museum: A Surreal Exploration

            For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by water. My family has a tradition of listening to The Eagles’ “Hotel California” and taking “sunset cruises,” or boat rides at sunset, on Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland. My grandpa loves sailing, and my favorite trip I’ve ever taken was a seven-day sailing excursion in Croatia.  So of course I had to check out the famous Vasa Museum to see why everyone was so excited about some ship.  The layout and detailed exhibits, overall narrative, and involved staff make the Vasa Museum an impressive, “must see” Stockholm attraction, one that will expose you to beautiful art and expand your imagination.

            Although there are multiple exhibits regarding specific aspects of the Vasa, obviously the focal point of the museum is the ship itself.  When I walked into the museum and laid eyes on the Vasa for the first time, I was absolutely shocked.  Someone had told me that the Vasa inspired the design for the Flying Dutchman, one of the main ships featured in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.  That’s exactly what it looked like; it looked like a beautiful, old work of art, perhaps used in a movie, but not a ship that actually sailed and was under water in clay and mud for 333 years.  

            The Vasa was the first of four ships built on the orders of King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden as part of a military expansion. The construction began in 1626, and on August 10, 1628, the Vasa set sail from the Stockholm harbor, only to sink after traveling barely 1300 meters. Although many escaped into the water or clung to the rigging until rescued, about 30 people died.  Andera Franzén and Per Edvin Fälting relocated the Vasa, and in 1961, 333 years after her maiden voyage, the Vasa broke the surface. Conservation of the ship began immediately, and in 1988, the Vasa Museum, attracting more than 1 million visitors every year, opened to the public. 

 

A model of the Vasa from when it sported red and gold carvings and sculptures (right, from Wikipedia) and the current state of the front of the Vasa.

Two things that shocked me about the Vasa were its age and the emphasis on beauty and art.  Throughout the entire visit, I was trying to grasp the fact that the five story, enormous ship I was staring at was over 100 years older than the U.S.  In addition, I thought about how the design differed from most of the Danish design concepts I learned about in Copenhagen, where functionality and comfort trump aesthetics.  The Vasa is truly a work of art, with over 700 carvings and sculptures on the ship’s exterior, intended to intimidate the enemy.  The original ship sported gold and red as well as other bright colors for decoration.  In addition to the exterior design, the preservation of the ship is

an art in itself.

            Luckily the hull and timbers were in good condition because the brackish water in which the Vasa laid for over 300 years did not contain “teredo navalis,” a wood-destroying organism found in oceans.  Immediately after the salvage, the Vasa was sprayed with PEG (polyethylene glycol,) found in lipstick and hand lotion, helping replace the water found in the wood.  The staff also inserted new iron bolts, of which there were about 8,000.  

            As I mentioned before, the layout and detailed exhibits, overall narrative, and involved staff were my favorite parts about the Vasa museum.  First, the museum is organized strategically so that visitors can flow through an overall narrative, starting with the sinking of the ship, and ending up back at the front of the museum, with a clear view of the entire structure.  Before doing anything else, I recommend seeing the 17 minute video (runs every twenty minutes) which provides an overview of the Vasa- why it was built, how it sank, how it was salvaged, and how it’s being preserved. The video was of an extremely high quality; the computer-generated recreation of the workers in the shipyard was well done, and the staging of the actual sinking of the boat was realistic. It also featured actual footage from the salvage in 1961. After the video, you can explore all six levels of the museum, which have different sized viewing platforms and offer distinct views of the ship.

All exhibits offer new perspectives of the Vasa way of life.  The museum offers detailed and well planned exhibits such as “Life on Board,” “Face to Face,” and “The Stockholm Shipyard.” “Life on Board” allows us to form a mental picture of everyday life on a warship.  

                                                                             Games and tobacco, two Vasa pastimes 

It provides information regarding passengers’ pastimes, food, belongings, clothing, and illnesses. For example, the most common illnesses were intestinal infections, often called the bloody flux. “Face to Face” was the most impressive exhibit.  Visitors “get to know” members of the Vasa through information obtained by studying skeletons found on the ship. Other than height and general body type, researchers can tell a person’s age, injuries they suffered, how they died, what/how they ate, and their general health, just from studying their skeletons. 

                                                                                                         The skeleton of a Vasa passenger

 “The Stockholm Shipyard” describes Skeppsgården, an important Stockholm shipyard that was home to the Vasa for two years, and explains how ships were built in the 1620’s.  Exhibits such as this one placed the Vasa story in a greater context, and helped visitors learn more about the 17^th century Swedish way of life.

Lastly, the engaged and passionate staff inspired me to learn more.  I saw a tour guide who quite literally looked like Captain Jack Sparrow, and was telling an animated story to his tour group.  All staff members seemed knowledgeable and passionate about the Vasa and her story, and were willing to answer any question. 

I was talking to Johan the other day about the Vasa museum- how it’s his favorite in Stockholm and what he likes about it- and he said, “It’s really just quite surreal.”  I think the word “surreal” sums it up perfectly- it’s truly shocking to walk around a ship that is 389 years old, and to study detailed accounts of the people on the ship and their way of life.  And as Stockholm is a city on the water where boats and ferries are regular forms of transportation, the Vasa museum is extremely fitting.