Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Culture in Sweden
A time capsule of culture, engineering and the sea With masts rising tall from her home in Djurgården, the Vasa ship is a real landmark in the Swedish capital. But the salvaged 17th-century ship that never made it past her maiden voyage boasts more than just impressive engineering and beautiful craftsmanship: she is also a window to a very different time and culture. By Linnea Dunne | Photos: Anneli Karlsson /Swedish National Maritime and Transport Museums
“Visiting the Vasa Museum is like going on a journey through time, like peeking through to the 1600s,” says Catrin Rising, communications manager at the Vasa Museum. “Just walking through the doors and seeing her in all her glory, being hit by that particular smell… It’s really powerful – even for me, and I work here every day!” That the tragic destiny of Vasa turned into a success story is quite the lucky coincidence. She only made it 1,300 metres before she sank during her maiden voyage in 1628, spending over 300 years at 28 | Issue 122 | March 2019
the bottom of the sea; but thanks to the brackish water of the Baltic Sea, she was well preserved, as the type of mussel that eats into the wood can only survive in salt water. Then persistent wreck researcher Anders Franzén came along, finding the first piece of the ship in 1956 – and after five years of preparation, she was finally salvaged. “The stories of the build and the ship and the people on board, those are all obviously truly fascinating things – but the salvaging story is quite remarkable too,”
says Rising, adding that there is a small exhibition at the museum dedicated to exactly this. “Sweden was at the forefront of engineering at the time, and in a way, the fact that Vasa could be salvaged at all is an extraordinary testament to the true engineering artistry on display. If the ship had been discovered at a different time, later on, she might not be here today – but there was this amazing enterprising spirit in Sweden during the late ‘50s. Moreover, Franzén wasn’t just a gifted entrepreneur; he was a skilled lobbyist too, capable of convincing the right people that this was a good idea and that Vasa needed to be salvaged.”
Writing women’s history Most exhibitions at the Vasa Museum – that about the salvaging of the ship included – are permanent, but there is one