In January 2019, the National Maritime and Transport Museums in Sweden announced the scheduled opening for the new sister museum, VRAK. Vrak means ‘wreck’ in Swedish, which makes perfect sense since the museum will be dedicated to exploring the unique maritime heritage of the Baltic Sea.
The Baltic Sea is the world’s largest brackish inland sea with a long history of human dependency for travel, trade and food. What makes the Baltic Sea so unique are the conditions that preserve the organic elements of archaeological sites and finds in a remarkable state. A shipwreck that sunk hundreds of years ago can literally be found sitting intact on the seabed like it’s still waiting to sail off to its intended harbour!
Why is there a need for a new museum?
Rather than focusing on a specific area, the new museum will represent the Baltic Sea in its entirety, from the Stone Age to Present Day. This makes the museum not just relevant to the Swedish people but also to the other roughly 90 million people who live in countries around the shores of the Baltic.
The National Maritime and Transport Museums also promise to provide a fresh new perspective in how they will be displaying shipwrecks in the new museum. No specific details have yet been released, but it is expected that the exhibitions will be dominated by virtual displays of 3D models and tours to give a realistic experience of the underwater environment. Virtual displays would also allow for a quick turnaround to house new models when more shipwrecks are discovered.
Where will the new museum be built?
The VRAK museum will be located on the island of Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. The new venue is currently being constructed at Boat Hangar 2 in the Galley Wharf (Galärvarvet), which is just 300 m from the popular Vasa Museum. Like that wasn’t enough maritime heritage there is also the Dyktankshuset Museum and the icebreaker museum ship Sankt Erik to explore almost next door! So mark your calendars for a trip to Stockholm in 2020.
Credit
The information for this article was sourced from the original post found on Statens Maritima och Transporthistoriska Museer’s website: https://www.maritima.se/balticsea
