Vasa Museum

바사 박물관

The Vasa Museum is a maritime museum on the island of Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. It shows the warship Vasa, a 64-gun ship that sank on her very first voyage in 1628 and was lifted from the sea in 1961. Vasa is the only almost fully intact 17th-century ship ever salvaged.

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At a glance

Country: Sweden
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Built: 1990
Height: 47 m
Type: Museum

Quick answers

Where is Vasa Museum?

Vasa Museum is in Stockholm, Sweden.

When was Vasa Museum built?

Vasa Museum was built in 1990.

How tall is Vasa Museum?

Vasa Museum is about 47 m tall.

A museum housing the almost fully intact warship Vasa, which sank on her maiden voyage in 1628; three masts rise from its roof.

The museum opened on 15 June 1990. Together with the Stockholm Maritime Museum it is part of the Swedish National Maritime, Transport and Military Museums, and by early 2025 more than 45 million people had seen the ship. In 2024 alone about 1.35 million people visited the museum.

A ship that sank within minutes

Vasa was built as a showpiece to show off Sweden's power, but she sank on her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628, soon after leaving the harbour. She lay on the sea floor for over three centuries before being found and raised in 1961. From 1961 to 1983 she stayed in a temporary building called Wasavarvet, where she was treated with a wax-like chemical, polyethylene glycol, to stop the wood from decaying.

A building shaped for a ship

In 1981 the Swedish government decided to build a permanent museum. A design competition drew 384 architects, and Marianne Dahlbäck and Göran Månsson won with a design called Ask, meaning "box." The roof is covered in copper, with stylised masts that show how tall the ship would have been fully rigged. Inside, visitors can see the ship from six levels, from her keel to the top of her stern.

Fun facts

The warship Vasa sank on its maiden voyage in 1628 and was raised in 1961.
Vasa is the only almost fully intact 17th-century ship ever salvaged.
Even the half-finished museum had 228,000 visitors in the summer of 1989.
The new parts added to the ship are left unpainted so they are easy to tell from the dark original wood.