Vasa Museum, Stockholm, Sweden - SpottingHistory.com

The Vasa Museum (Vasamuseet) is a maritime museum displaying the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged, the 64-gun warship Vasa that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. Opened in 1990, the Vasa Museum is one of the most visited museums in Scandinavia.

The main hall contains the ship itself and various exhibits related to the archaeological findings of the ships and early 17th century Sweden. Vasa has been fitted with the lower sections of all three masts, a new bowsprit, winter rigging, and has had certain parts that were missing or heavily damaged replaced. The replacement parts have not been treated or painted and are therefore clearly visible against the original material that has been darkened after three centuries under water.

The new museum is dominated by a large copper roof with stylized masts that represent the actual height of Vasa when she was fully rigged. Parts of the building are covered in wooden panels painted in dark red, blue, tar black, ochre yellow and dark green. The interior is similarly decorated, with large sections of bare, unpainted concrete, including the entire ceiling. Inside the museum the ship can be seen from six levels, from her keel to the very top of the stern castle. Around the ship are numerous exhibits and models portraying the construction, sinking, location and recovery of the ship. There are also exhibits that expand on the history of Sweden in the 17th century, providing background information for why the ship was built. A movie theatre shows a film in alternating languages on the recovery of the Vasa.

The museum also features four other museum ships moored in the harour outside: the ice breaker Sankt Erik (launched 1915), the lightvessel Finngrundet (1903), the torpedo boat Spica (1966) and the rescue boat Bernhard Ingelsson (1944).

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

adele zhao (2 years ago)
We were a bit skeptical of a museum dedicated to a single ship but it's amazing and way bigger than expected. It has a lot of information on restoration/preservation of the ship as well as what life would have been like plus some cool facial reconstructions. I'd recommend going to the movie and tour included in the ticket. 10/10 worth checking out if you're in Stockholm.

Monika Kolodziejczyk (2 years ago)
Nice place to visit. Impressive view of the ship. Wide opening hours. Small but nice restaurant upstairs. Visit takes up to max. 2 hours. Possible to get there with public transport but also easy walk within 30min.from city centre (main train station). I

Ashwin Sathrughnan (3 years ago)
Beet there twice by now! It’s a well organized museum and has a Swedish minimalistic approach to how the information is organized. I just loved that fact that they have also incorporated technology to demonstrate how it was like during the time when Vasa was being built. If you happen to travel around Stockholm, Vasa should be on the top of the go to places as museum. Furthermore, there are many museums located near Vasa.

Tobias Kiener (3 years ago)
Absolutely amazing. You have to see this. Worth every penny. The picture won't do justice. Unbelievable good work on the preservation and the museum is just gorgeous. It's not a typical museum where you to read long texts for some stuff behind a glass window. It is right in front of you and the view of this ship will take your breath away every single time you look at it

Kathy Miller (3 years ago)
We were not prepared for how WONDERFUL this museum is! Had read about it, but the shear size and workmanship of the Vasa will truly amaze anyone. Allow enough time. There's a lot to read and see. All ages except the very young would enjoy. A very memorable experience.

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Lednice Castle

The first historical record of Lednice locality dates from 1222. At that time there stood a Gothic fort with courtyard, which was lent by Czech King Václav I to Austrian nobleman Sigfried Sirotek in 1249.

At the end of the 13th century the Liechtensteins, originally from Styria, became holders of all of Lednice and of nearby Mikulov. They gradually acquired land on both sides of the Moravian-Austrian border. Members of the family most often found fame in military service, during the Renaissance they expanded their estates through economic activity. From the middle of the 15th century members of the family occupied the highest offices in the land. However, the family’s position in Moravia really changed under the brothers Karel, Maximilian, and Gundakar of Liechtenstein. Through marriage Karel and Maximilian acquired the great wealth of the old Moravian dynasty of the Černohorskýs of Boskovice. At that time the brothers, like their father and grandfather, were Lutheran, but they soon converted to Catholicism, thus preparing the ground for their rise in politics. Particularly Karel, who served at the court of Emperor Rudolf II, became hetman of Moravia in 1608, and was later raised to princely status by King Matyas II and awarded the Duchy of Opava.

During the revolt of the Czech nobility he stood on the side of the Habsburgs, and took part in the Battle of White Mountain. After the uprising was defeated in 1620 he systematically acquired property confiscated from some of the rebels, and the Liechtensteins became the wealthiest family in Moravia, rising in status above the Žerotíns. Their enormous land holdings brought them great profits, and eventually allowed them to carry out their grandious building projects here in Lednice.

In the 16th century it was probably Hartmann II of Liechtenstein who had the old medieval water castle torn down and replaced with a Renaissance chateau. At the end of the 17th century the chateau was torn down and a Baroque palace was built, with an extensive formal garden, and a massive riding hall designed by Johann Bernard Fischer von Erlach that still stands in almost unaltered form.

In the mid-18th century the chateau was again renovated, and in 1815 its front tracts that had been part of the Baroque chateau were removed.

The chateau as it looks today dates from 1846-1858, when Prince Alois II decided that Vienna was not suitable for entertaining in the summer, and had Lednice rebuilt into a summer palace in the spirit of English Gothic. The hall on the ground floor would serve to entertain the European aristocracy at sumptuous banquets, and was furnished with carved wood ceilings, wooden panelling, and select furniture, surpassing anything of its kind in Europe.

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