This exhibition tells of Vasa’s earliest history by means of large format paintings. The king’s visit to the shipyard begins the story which ends with a slide show of the legal hearing after the sinking.
The first large painting shows a sick and worried master shipbuilder in the spring of 1626. The king’s shadow darkens the construction. The next painting shows the royal palace of Tre Kronor in the summer of 1628. The cellar held the naval arsenal and Vasa was moored below the palace when she took her canons onboard.
A relief map shows the battles that were being waged in northern Europe in the summer of 1628. A painting of the fleet of the royal Swedish naval force demonstrates the Vasa’s impressive load of canons in relation to the other ships.
The exhibition includes a model depicting the moment of sinking. There is also a full-scale model of the type of diving bell used to salvage the majority of Vasa’s canons in the 17th century.