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A project has begun to preserve the 400-year-old Swedish warship Vasa, which notoriously sank on her maiden voyage.
A new metal structure is being installed to support the hull of the ship, which has its own museum in Stockholm and is one of the city’s top tourist attractions.
Vasa was constructed in the reign of Gustav II Adolf (1611-1632), a period during which Sweden rose to become one of Europe’s dominant military powers.
Named after the king’s dynastic house, Vasa was constructed from more than a thousand oak trees, and was armed with 64 guns, of which most were 24-pounder cannon.
But the ship, commissioned by Dutch master shipbuilder Henrik Hybertsson, was fatally overloaded. She sank on her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628, killing several crew members, having made it less than a mile outside Stockholm harbour.
Well preserved in the muddy depths of the Baltic for more than three centuries, Vasa was raised to the surface in 1961 after a delicate salvage operation.
In the years since, the ship has begun to sag under her own weight and list to one side, necessitating renovation work.
‘It’s needed because the ship needs better support, because the old one from 1961 doesn’t cut it any more,’ said project leader Peter Rydebyork.
Estimated to cost some €17.7 million, the renovation is due for completion in 2028 – in time to mark Vasa’s 400th anniversary.
