Vasa Museum.. (warning.. lotsa pics n a very long post)

Read from any guidebooks abt Stockholm, they will say Vasa Museum is a must see.. so we went to take a look abt wat all the hooha is all abt...

Entrance is 40kr for students.. ok lah pretty cheap (abt 10 Sing dollars) this is the std price for museums that charge money in Stockholm.. The musuem have 7 storeys and has an auditorium.

The moment u come in thru the entrance.. u will see this super big ship..


There r coat hangers near the entrance but dont feel very safe leaving my coat here..
Thus we made use of lockers over there.. the cool thing is that altho it costs 5kr to operate the locker.. after usage when u wanna collect yer stuff.. u can get back yer 5kr n the locker will be vacant n unlocked.. haha.. so its FREE..

Taking pictures with this big Vasa ship..




Gun decks.. Holes for the cannons to poke out n shoot..




Posing with a smaller replica..



ok ok enuff of pictures.. tok briefly abt the background behind this Vasa ship.. basically can memorise the story liao.. been drill into our mind by the exhibits n auditorium show abt Vasa..
In the early 17th century, Sweden was busy building an empire around the Baltic Sea in northern Europe. A strong navy was essential. During the 1620s Sweden was at war with Poland. In 1625 the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus ordered new warships. Among them the Vasa.

The Vasa was built at the Stockholm shipyard by Henrik Hybertsson - an experienced Dutch shipbuilder. His experience was much needed as the Vasa was to be the mightiest warship in the world, armed with 64 guns on two gundecks.

In 1628 the ship was ready. Sunday August 10 was the day of the Vasa's maiden voyage. The beaches around Stockholm were filled with spectators, among them foreign diplomats. The maiden voyage was to be an act of propaganda for the ambitious Swedish king Gustavus
Adolphus.

The Vasa set sail and fired a salute. But only after a few minutes of sailing the ship began to heel over. She righted herself slightly - and heeled over again. Water started to gush in through the open gunports. And, to everyones horror and disbelief, the glorious and mighty warship suddenly sank! Of the 150 people on board, 30-50 died in the disaster. When Vasa had been salvaged in 1961, archaeologists found the remains of 25 skeletons.

After the disaster the captain of the Vasa - Söfring Hansson - was arrested. The Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus was not in Sweden at the time. He was waging war in Poland. It took two weeks for him to learn about what had happened. When he did, he wrote angrily that the disaster had happened because of "imprudence and negligence" and that the guilty parties had to be punished. Söfring Hansson and many others were called to inquiries at the Royal Castle of Stockholm.

At the inquest people were troubled by the fact that the shipbuilder Henrik Hybertsson had died the year before the Vasa was completed. Instead his brother and partner, Arendt de Groot, was held responsible for the completion of the ship. But in the end no one was condemned for causing the disaster. The people in charge of the inquiries concluded that the ship was well built - but badly proportioned.

ok end of story.. basically main pt is that.. ship was badly built according to the unreasonable demand of King for 2 gun decks when its normal to have only 1.. the extra cannons plus the lack of ballast to support the ship led to the ship sinking shortly after it took off.. then its only abt 300 years later at around 1960s when ppl start to salvage the ship from the bottom of the sea n bring it to light again..

Diving suits used by the divers to reach the Vasa in the 1960s..

At the exhibition of Sweden in the 1600s.. me toking to some Swedish merchants.

What is she looking at?

Him!!

Me in 1600s Sweden

One of the wall paintings..

Coat of Arms of Vasa Ship

Pictures of the ship..

Posing by the anchor of Vasa ship..



Gun carriage to hold the cannons.. it was at first thot that the cannons r not secured properly causing imbalance in the ship as it moves around the gun deck.. but just b4 sinking, the crew checked that the cannons were all lashed at their own places.. so this cause was ruled out..


Model of the shipyard..


Artifacts found in the ship..



Taking a breather from all the walking in this big museum.. Nasta..(which means "next" in Swedish) Viewing the quarters of the crew..


Posing with a very very big sail... (the part of it shown here is only abt 1/30 of the entire thing..) this sail was found in the ship.. it was well preserved because it was kept in a room n not hanging outside..


The place way on top of the mast where the sail will be unfurled downwards..


Posing with various stuff associated with the ship..




Model showing the crampness of the ship.. there were abt 450 men on board..




Fire in the hole!!



Stop the fight!!


Pull up the sail!!


This pewter containers r where the crew do pee in..


Acting cool in Vasa Museum


Globe showing one of the major sea battles between Sweden n Poland..

Hmm.. tinking abt it..


After all these.. we left Vasa Museum to check out prices for Viking Line for a possible Helsinki Trip next Friday..

haha no no.. this baby below is not found in the Vasa ship.. this pic is taken by Dom on the bus out of Djurgarden..


anyway found this sign in a toilet in Vasa Museum.. Its understandable that they write this in Swedish n English.. but dont get it why they also include Russian n only just Russian.. haha. must be they have had some bad experience with them.. hehe.. just a stupid speculation..