Yesterday I went to the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. This museum is dedicated to a warship built in 1626-1628 for use in the war between Sweden and Poland. It was supposed to be the most impressive ship in the Swedish fleet as was highly decorated and armed. Unfortunately, ship building at the time was not a very precise science and the ship floundered and sank after being underway for approximately 15 minutes. It turns out it was too narrow, but not by much - a similar ship was built several years later and was perfectly stable, despite being only a meter wider!
The ship lay in the brackish water just off downtown Stockholm for more than 300 years, but did not decay due to the low salinity of the water (rather, it was pickled). In 1961, they raised the ship and have completely put it back together. It is quite impressive to see an entire 17th century warship!
The building where the Vasa is kept is a bit dark, so I didn't get very many good pictures myself. Click here for pictures of the Vasa on the museum website.
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