Vasa is the warship that sank on its maiden voyage in Stockholm in 1628 and is now preserved at the Vasa Museum.
The Swedish navy built Vasa during the reign of King Gustavus Adolphus, when Sweden was a major power in the Thirty Years’ War. The ship carried an unusually heavy battery of guns, including 64 bronze cannons, and its tall, narrow design made it unstable. On 10 August 1628, a gust of wind caused it to heel over shortly after leaving Stockholm harbour.
Vasa was raised from the seabed in 1961 after more than three centuries underwater. Its timbers survived remarkably well because the cold, low-salinity waters of the Baltic Sea do not support the shipworm that damages wooden wrecks in saltier seas.
The purpose-built Vasa Museum opened in Stockholm in 1990. Vasa is often confused with the English Mary Rose, another famous Tudor-era museum ship, but the two vessels belonged to different navies and centuries.