Vasa: Most Exquisite Shipwreck

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Vasa

The most exquisite shipwreck ever to be found in the Baltic Sea was the Swedish royal warship, the Vasa.  The ship was built on the orders of the King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus as part of the military expansion he initiated in a war with Poland-Lithuania.

Vasa was built between 1626 and 1628, it rather unfortunately sank on its maiden voyage on 10 August 1628, less than one nautical mile from the harbor.

When it was located again in the 1950s, the Swedish government decided to salvage the wreck.  During a recovery operation in 1961, thousands of artifacts and human remains were removed from in and around the hull.

The wreck was so well-preserved (after almost 350 years under water), that the smallest details could still be discerned on its artwork.  It took more than eighteen months, 1,300 dives and eighteen separate lifts to salvage the Vasa.  Today, the Vasa museum is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Sweden.

Source: Wikipedia