The Vasa Maritime Museum is one of many on the island of Djurgården and one of the most visited in Scandinavia.

It gets its name from the central exhibit that takes up most of the museum's interior - the Vasa warship from the Vasa dynasty.

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Tip: You might also be interested in the similar Fram Museum dedicated to polar expeditions with the large original Fram ship in Oslo, Norway.

The giant ship across the entire museum

As soon as you enter the main hall of the museum, you will be amazed by the huge wooden ship stretching from one end of the building to the other.

The ship is so big that it's practically impossible to take a picture in one shot.

Thanks to the suitable environment of the Baltic Sea, where not so many bacteria are active, the shipwreck has remained remarkably preserved despite lying on the seabed for more than 300 years.

The warship Vasa measured 69 metres in length, 52 metres in height and had 67 guns.

Unfortunately, there is no access to the ship, but you can admire the wreck from a total of 4 levels so that you can see all its levels from the masts to the keel.

Ship in the Vasa Museum

The sinking on the maiden voyage

One of the largest ships of the Swedish Royal Navy in its time, it set sail on its maiden voyage on 10 August 1628, but after less than 1,500 metres it sank due to strong wind gusts and design flaws near the location of the current museum.

More than 30 sailors drowned in the ship's bowels, whose remains can be seen, among other things, in the museum.

The wreck was recovered in 1956 and has been on display at the Vasa Museum since 1990.