ABBA and the Vasa

With only one day in Stockholm, we decided to visit two of the most popular museums in the city. Both excellently portray their subjects. It helps that they are within walking distance of each other.

The ABBA museum tells the story of each of the four singers, how they met, and what they have been up to since the band split in 1981. The band which is still popular (a new Mama Mia! movie out this summer) only performed together from 1972 - 1981. Since they they have all created new work, put out new albums, been responsible for Broadway and Hollywood musicals, and generally lived rich and fulfilling lives.

The museum also tells the stories of the two women and one man who took care of the band over the years. This is one big happy family, even after the group broke up and the marriages split.

Note the extra person joining the group.

 

Their stories are intermixed with several interactive opportunities to sing and dance with the band and have the video preserved for your future amusement - although in most cases I imaging the amusement will be more for friends and relatives. Maintaining their reputations as great marketers, the museum also includes a themed restaurant and nightclub based on the movie complete with a floor show.

Map showing Sweden's power in the Baltic and North Atlantic

Vasa is a completely different museum, but equally successful. The Vasa is a Swedish warship that was the biggest and best warship of its time. Unfortunately, for Sweden, it sank after sailing only about 1300 meters. Top heavy and under-ballasted, it went down quickly as it left the harbor. Fortunately for us, it came to rest in water deep enough to avoid modern ships and shallow enough to be raised in 1961. Moreover, the water here is still brackish and not too salty. Salt water would have destroyed the wood. 

After the ship was raised, it was sprayed for decades with a spray to keep it moist as the chemicals soaked in to preserve the wood. I had read about the Vasa in National Geographic when it was first raised and visited it in this condition in 1969. Eventually, that work was finished and the museum built around it. The preservation work goes on today as they learn more about the process and the condition of the wood. For example, iron bolts rusted away and were replaced with steel when the ship was first raised. These steel bolts have now been replaced with a new kind of stainless steel that should last much longer.

Designs even inside the cannon cover.

The museum tells many stories. The story of the ship begins with a diorama of Stockholm’s shipyards and the construction of the ship. We learned about Sweden’s efforts to control the Baltic and its hopes to be the northern country that would lead the Catholics to victory over the heretical Protestants. One room focuses on the role of women. They were not totally subservient to men. One woman was the head of a shipyard. The museum tells us that the only criticism she received was that she was in a bad business deal. That turned out to be true, but no one even commented on the fact that she was a woman in a man’s world because no one thought of it like that.

Diorama of the shipyard

Each of the recovered skeletons is allowed to tell its story. Even without names, the archeologists have learned much about each of their lives from the tests on the bones and the clothing and shoes that have survived with them. A most exciting part of the museum is the replica ornamentation that has been carved and painted to show off the colors used to make the ship as beautiful and formidable as possible.

Mockup of the stern as it would have looked

Lots of bright colors

But, of course, the showcase of the museum is the ship itself. We were not allowed to go onto the ship, but we could walk around it on five different levels. In addition a full-scale model of one of the gun decks puts us right in the middle of the guns. I could stand up straight between beams, but since they were only five feet apart, I would have to have been stooping most of my time below decks.

The wooden box in the center of the picture is the "head"

Pretend you are in the crow's nest

I don't think he is happy