Vasa Museum
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| Vasa Museum | |
|---|---|
| Vasamuseet | |
 Exterior of the Vasa Museum. |
|
| Established | 1990 |
| Location | Galärvarvsvägen 14 on Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden |
| Type | maritime museum |
| Director | Marika Hedin |
| Website | www.vasamuseet.se |
The Vasa Museum (Swedish: Vasamuseet) is a maritime museum in Stockholm, Sweden. Located on the island of Djurgården, the museum displays the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged, the 64-gun warship Vasa that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. The Vasa Museum opened in 1990 and, according to the official web site, is the most visited museum in Scandinavia. Together with other museums such as Stockholm Maritime Museum, the museum belongs to the Swedish National Maritime Museums (SNMM).
From the end of 1961 to 1988 Vasa was housed in a temporary structure called Wasavarvet ("The Vasa Shipyard") where she was treated with polyethylene glycol. Visitors could only view the ship from two levels and the maximum distance was only 5 m (17 ft). In 1981, the Swedish government decided that a permanent Vasa museum was to be constructed and an architects' competition for the design of the museum building was organized. A total of 384 architects sent in models of their ideas for the most suitable building to house the Vasa and the final winners were Marianne Dahlbäck and Göran Månsson with Ask ("box"). The construction of the new building began on and around the dry dock of the old naval yard with an inauguration ceremony hosted by Prince Bertil on 2 November 1987. Vasa was towed into the flooded dry dock under the new building in December 1988 and during the summer of 1989, when visitors were allowed onto the construction site, 228 000 people visited the half-finished museum. The museum was officially opened on 15 June 1990.[1] So far Vasa has been seen by over 25 million people. In 2008 the museum had a total of 1,143,404 visitors[2].
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[edit] History
The main hall contains the ship itself and various exhibits related to the archaeological findings of the ships and early 17th century Sweden. Vasa has been fitted with the lower sections of all three masts, a new bowsprit, winter rigging, and has had certain parts that were missing or heavily damaged replaced. The replacement parts have not been treated or painted and are therefore clearly visible against the original material that has been darkened after three centuries under water. The museum also displays four other floating museum ships; the ice breaker Sankt Erik (launched 1915), the lightvessel Finngrundet (1903), the torpedo boat Spica (1966) and the rescue boat Bernhard Ingelsson (1944).
The new museum is dominated by a large copper roof with stylized masts that represent the actual height of Vasa when she was fully rigged. Parts of the building are covered in wooden panels painted in dark red, blue, tar black, ochre yellow and dark green. The interior is similarly decorated, with large sections of bare, unpainted concrete, including the entire ceiling. Inside the museum the ship can be seen from six levels, from her keel to the very top of the stern castle. Around the ship are numerous exhibits and models portraying the construction, location and recovery of the ship. There are also many exhibits that expand on the history of Sweden in the 17th century, providing background information for why the ship was built. The museum is currently in the process of publishing an 8-volume archaeological report to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the salvage. Vasa I: The Archaeology of a Swedish Warship of 1628 was published at the end of 2006. Subsequent volumes will be published annually.[3]
[edit] Employment controversy
In late 2009 SNMM announced that about 50 employees under temporary contracts at the Vasa Museum would not be re-employed after 31 December 2009. The decision was reached because of incompatibilites between Swedish labor legislation (lagen om anställningsskydd or LAS) and the museum's policy to minimize the number of permanent positions. LAS stipulates that an employee has to be granted a permanent contract after working two years over a five-year period, which means an employer has to lay of staff or offer them a permanent position. All those concerned belong to the public work force (hosts, guides and store clerks) and constitute a majority of the staff servicing visitors. The decision has raised concerns about the continued standard of service of the Vasa Museum during 2009 as well as the high costs of having to train new guides to replace those not re-employed.[4] Three of the concerned employees have protested the decision in a debate article in Aftonbladet, crticizing the handling of the situation by SNMM and characterizing its decision as a way of circumventing legislation designed to protect employees that will prove both costly and inefficient.[5]
[edit] Gallery
 The main hall of the museum with a model of Vasa to the left and the ship itself to the right. |
 The four floating museum ships of the Vasa Museum. |
 Exterior detail. |
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Kvarning, pp. 163-173
- ^ "Årsredovisning 2008". Statens maritima museer. http://www.maritima.se/~/media/PDFER/SMM/Arsredovisning_%202008%20pdf.ashx.
- ^ Vasa Museum homepage, accessed June 30, 2007
- ^ SVT, ABCFemtiotal varslas från Vasamuseet, November 20 2009. Retrieved November 30 2009.
- ^ Aftonbladet, Nu sänker staten skeppet Vasa igen, 24 November 2009. Retrieved 30 November 2009
[edit] Sources
- Kvarning, Lars-Åke and Ohrelius, Bengt (1998) The Vasa - The Royal Ship ISBN 91-7486-581-1
- Annual report of 2008 from Statens maritima museer (The National Maritime Museums): http://www.maritima.se/~/media/PDFER/SMM/Arsredovisning_%202008%20pdf.ashx
[edit] External links
Coordinates: 59°19′41″N 18°05′29″E / 59.32794°N 18.09139°E
