Audio tour highlights KTH’s part in lost Swedish warship’s 400-year story
Together with the Vasa Museum, KTH Royal Institute of Technology is launching an interactive audio walk about Vasa, the iconic Swedish warship that sank on its maiden voyage nearly 400 years ago. Participants will be able to follow the ship on its first, and last, voyage – but also learn about how the salvage operation took place and how KTH research has contributed to the ship’s preservation.
On its maiden voyage, 10 August 1628, Vasa managed to sail little more than a kilometre from its launch at the royal navy shipyard in central Stockholm before capsizing and sinking off Beckholmen in Stockholm. Despite its sudden demise, Vasa’s reputation survived for centuries.
In the late 1950s, the surpsingly well-preserved wreck was discovered by KTH alumnus Anders Franzén and diver Per Edvin Fälting, who, through tireless campaigning, ensured that the Vasa was salvaged in 1961. Since 1990, the ship has been on display at the Vasa Museum, which welcomes more than 1.3 million visitors every year.
Now, visitors will have the opportunity to learn more even outside the museum, through an interactive audio tour of the actual sites where he tVasa was built, sailed, sank and was later salvaged.
“Through the audio walk, we can take visitors out into the city and let them experience Vasa’s history in the very places where it unfolded. Together with KTH, we can also demonstrate how research and conservation go hand in hand to secure Vasa’s future for coming generations,” says Jenny Lind, Director of the Vasa Museum.
As well as adding a new dimension to the museum visit, the experience will also highlight the importance of research for the ship Vasa.
“Vasa is not just one of Sweden’s most iconic cultural heritage sites. It is also one of the world’s most advanced conservation projects. Here, KTH’s research has played, and continues to play, an important role,” says Mikael Lindström, Deputy President at KTH and Professor of Pulp Technology.
Deformed by its own weight
Since Vasa was salvaged, researchers from KTH have been working on research topics relating to wood, chemistry, materials and the environment. Since 2000, they have been measuring changes in the shape of the hull to monitor deformations. KTH’s research has also contributed to understanding the degradation of the wood and to developing and optimising support structures to stabilise the ship.
“Much of this involves understanding how the centuries-old wood is affected by oxygen, moisture and pollutants, but also how previous conservation methods continue to affect the ship today,” Lindström says.
After more than 60 years in the same cradle, Vasa now risks being deformed by its own weight. Ahead of the 400th anniversary in 2028, the largest conservation project since the salvage in 1961 is underway: Support the Vasa. As part of this, the interactive audio walk is being launched through a collaboration between the Vasa Museum, the Promenad app and KTH, with funding from the Torsten Söderberg Foundation. The audio walk will premiere at the end of August 2026.
Jon Lindhe ( jlindhe@kth.se )
