When Kendell and Taryn were in town we had the opportunity to visit Stockholm's most famous museum, the Vasa Museum. Any tourist guide will tell you that this museum is a must-see.
There's a long story behind the name Vasa, but I'll give you the abridged history. Gustav Vasa was elected the king of Sweden after leading a rebellion against the Danes and freeing Sweden from Danish rule in the 16th century. We can also thank him for one of the world's most famous cross country ski races, the Vasaloppet.
In the early 17th century Sweden's King Gustavus Adolphus was at war in Poland. He decided that he wanted to build the world's most magnificent and powerful battleship as a sign of his power and wealth. The world's biggest ship was not enough for this powerful king, he wanted to design it himself. So he designed a massive boat, and to make sure it was the mightiest ship on the sea, he added an extra deck for another row of cannons, an unprecedented move at the time. The ship was to be named the Vasa.
The best Dutch shipbuilders were hired and the best German carpenters were brought to Stockholm. They worked for two years as the king anxiously awaited his new ship in Poland. The pressure was on, and despite signs that the ship's design might be flawed, the builders kept on building. In 1628 the ship was completed. It was decorated with the most ornate carvings and was decorated so that it would be fit for a king.
The sailors were allowed to bring their families on board to celebrate the first few miles of the maiden voyage, then once out of Stockholm's harbor the families would be dropped off on an island in the archipelago to sail back home and the ship would instead be filled with soldiers, ready to sail to war in Poland.
Everybody in Stockholm came out to see the ship's maiden voyage, and it must have been a sight. The ship took to the see, and after traveling just over a mile it caught the wind in its sails. The ship leaned and corrected itself. Again it leaned, dangerously far, but once again righted itself. The third time wasn't so lucky and the ship began taking on water through the cannon holes. The extra row of cannons made the ship so top-heavy that it could not balance itself and 15 minutes into its maiden voyage, the ship had sunk.
It appears that the builders knew that the ship wouldn't last long, but in those days, nobody was willing to stand up to the king. The ship also had tons and tons (literally) of rocks in the bottom of the boat for balance. They should have added more rocks to prevent the boat from rocking so much, but it turns out that if they had added the number of rocks needed to fix the problem, the ship would have been so heavy that it would have sunk anyway. It was doomed from the beginning.
The ship was rediscovered in the harbor in 1958 and raised from the sea and restored in 1961. It was buried in silt for most of those 333 years, preserving wood that should have rotted long ago. It's a very impressive sight, and something I highly recommend for all visitors.
While it's impressive that they were able to raise this ship off the sea floor in once piece and then restore it, there's another question that one should consider. I think my dad threw this question my way and I think it's something that one needs to consider when trying to understand the mentality of the Swedish people: "What kind of country puts so much work into celebrating and showing off their biggest folly?"
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