Vasa Museum

The Vasa Museum is the most visited museum in Scandinavia, and it deserves its reputation. At the centre of the purpose-built hall sits the warship Vasa herself — a near-complete 17th-century warship, 69 metres long, bristling with 64 carved and gilded cannons, and startlingly intact after 333 years on the harbour floor. The preservation is extraordinary: around 98 percent of the original ship survives, including the elaborate carved decorations that covered virtually every surface.

The surrounding six levels of exhibits tell the story of the ship, the disaster, the salvage, and the people who sailed on her. Archaeologists identified individual crew members from their skeletons and reconstructed their lives, ages, and even what they ate. The experience of standing at eye level with the upper gun deck, able to look directly into the ship's working interior, is unlike anything at a conventional museum.

Allow a minimum of two hours, more if you want to explore all the exhibits. Audio guides are available in numerous languages. The museum is open year-round and advance booking is recommended in summer.

things to do museum djurgarden
A story
The Vasa sank on 10 August 1628, just 1,300 metres into her maiden voyage, in full view of the Stockholm waterfront. She was top-heavy — the gun ports were too close to the water line — and heeled over in a gust of wind and went down in minutes. Around 30 of the 150 crew drowned. The wreck sat in the harbour mud for 333 years, preserved by the cold, low-salinity water of the Baltic, before being salvaged in 1961.