Vasa

Today my Math teacher asked me why we built a whole museum for “just some” ship. Well, good question! 

As a non-proffessional, I can only tell you my own opinion on things. I’d say what makes the Vasa museum so special is it’s importance for many different historical fields.

For archeologists, the most important part what we found on-board the ship, and the restoration and fixing-up. When the ship was first brought up above he surface, it was only half of what it is today. Lots of scattered pieces of wood and skeletons layed all over the sea bed. making the ship suitable for showing proved to be quite difficult, and would take several decades. It’s considered the most difficult solved pussle in the world for that very reason!

They found clothes, masts, forks, hats, canons and lots of other interesting every-day items from the 1600′s!

For historians, it’s the story surrounding it that’s been so important. Gustav II wanted to build morale by building the biggest and most pompous ship there’s ever been, and it was going to be named after his granfather, the founding father of Sweden. Gustav Vasa. 

For architects it was even more impressive. The ship is extremely huge, but is the grand example of how to not build a ship. Too many canons on either side, too tall, and not wide enough. though the paint-job was extraordinary. The ship only sailed for 15 minutes.

My point is, there’s way too much information surrounding the ship NOT to build a museum. The museum is huge, and every time I go there I find something new. It’s not just a boat. It’s a ship. 

1Prince  Adolf Ludvig Gustav Fredrik Albert of Sweden, or his original name: Couchi. Couchi was born 1747 in a Danish colony somewhere in Africa. 

His parents died as a result of their home burning down when he was young, and so when he was 10 he was shipped off as a slave to Etastråtet (an old Danish title) “Reiser” who would later give him away to Queen Lovisa Ulrika of Sweden as a present.

Lovisa Ulrika decided to take this “opportunity” (ew) to test if an African could fit in among white people if he was raised like one.

Couchi lived with the royals in Sweden as an assistant to Lovisa Ulrika. She has said that she saw him as the son she never had. (Lovisa Ulrika had three sons already so I- bro) He was called “Badin” by the Swedes, as it meant “Joke, silly, weird, odd”. That is why I prefer to NOT call him that, though you will find that most people in modern day history know him for that name anyway.

He loved reading, which fitted Lovisa Ulrika quite nicely since she herself was a bit of a reader. Couchi was to a lot of support for her after her husband, the king of Sweden’s death.  After Lovisa Ulrika’s death, Couchi would go on to serve Lovisa’s daughter Sofia Albertina, who seem to have been very fond of Couchi, with him even writing a poem about her on her birthday.

Though he had been lucky to not be shipped off to work as a farmer slave somewhere, it is very clear that he faced a lot of discrimination through his life. All from his name, to Gustav III calling him “Black man” instead of by his name at times, not even getting the chance of a  higher status among the royals despite his hard work and love for languages, books, poetry and theater.

I call him prince because technically, he is. He was adopted by a queen, and so he deserves that title after all that he had been through. Honestly he looks like such a nice guy he’s so cheerful. 

Adolf Ludvig Gustav Fredrik Albert Couchi. 1747-1822

The forgotten prince of Sweden.

So when they gonna kiss

The tension in that picture lmao. It's two paintings of Gustav Vasa of Sweden, and Kristian II of Denmark. (Also known as Kristian the tyrant)

They were kings over their separate countries during the 1500's.

Added a new King Karl XII of Sweden sticker to my store! Check out if you'd like one!

(I will be adding more historical-figure-stickers soon!)

https://shop.spreadshirt.se/artz-shop/

I was just gonna go to sleep when I realized that Gustav Eriksson Vasa died on this day (29th September) 460 years ago. He died at the age of 64 year 1560. He ruled as king of Sweden for over 40 years.

So that's cool to think about I guess. I have a vague memory of that he died in his wife's arms. Like, she slept in the same bed as him the last few hours he was alive. He had an incredible toothache, which made him pretty grumpy.

At one point, someone walked in and found the king unresponsive in his bed, and yelled out "THE KING IS DEAD" at which point Gustav Vasa woke up and was alone "bruh let me and my wife sleep I ain't dead yet"

Okay he didn't say exactly that. This is just something I vaguely remember hearing, so don't take my word for it.

On his death bed a priest asked him to admit to his sins so that he could go to heaven. To which Gustav Vasa answered: "Right now it is not my soul that matters- it is my body". He meant that he wanted to admit to his sins to god personally. After he had died that is.

We're doing a comic-strip project in art class, and like the history nerd I am, I decided to include some great northern war-leaders in mine!

Here you see my process sketches for the different leaders, that I am still not done with. The only official design is the bottom drawing of Karl XII.

I chose that one because it was more simple, more cartoony, and showed his personality as the child-king he initially was, and came to be known for. (He became king at the age of 14/15 because his dad died from what they suspect might have been some form of cancer.)

The leaders in the sketches: Karl XII of Sweden, Augustus III of Poland-Lithania, Fredrik V of Denmark and Peter the Great of Russia.

(these drawings are in no way meant to be patriotic, or to glorify the people it's depicting. It is more of a comedic take on history and is not to be taken seriously)

Queen Kristina of Sweden. Also known as Alexandria (her name in Rome).

Or should I say: King of Sweden?

Yeah, that's right. It's the Lesbian girl king we all know and love.

(yeah, this one I also had to screenshot from my deviantart which you can tell from the watermark. Check it out if ya wanna)

Some older sketches from early summer of the Swedish Carolean uniform. (Great northern war)

I've been gone for quite a while, haven't I? Well, check out this book I found at our library, and it's about Bernadotte! (Karl Johan, king of Sweden after Gustav IV. The so called "French king" cuz he was adopted from France haha)

It's a comic book telling the story about how Bernadotte ended up as the Swedish royal family! If you're interested in Swedish history, and even if you're not, you should check it out. The art is really cool.

Here's an example:

“Here by the wall”

A drawing I made inspired by some photos and the aesthetic of Gotland's capital city, Visby. Visby has got a very old wall around it built to protect the city from mostly Denmark, but also other enemies like Russia between 1250-1288. The wall is still there, but is slowly falling apart and on many places covered with plants and flowers. And that's what I think makes it so beautiful. There was a bloodbath that happened there year 1361 where around 1 800 soldiers and farmers died while trying to defend Visby from Denmark. The wall has still got visible damage on it from previous attacks but also since it is falling apart because of the flora taking over, and time passing. A place that once used to be a battlefield has turned into a field of plants and flowers. Even the city is filled with Roses and ruins from old churches. The city is one of the only medieval cities we have left in Sweden, and has got a few museums about Sweden's middle ages since most of the stuff we once knew about our past burnt down in the fire of three kronor in Stockholm. Visby was the place that still had our history preserved. In the picture you see Sweden when he was younger. The scene is of course inspired by the song "Drift away" from the Steven Universe movie. The plants has taken over everything around him, damage that has been done in the past has been forgotten and so has he. Replaced by beautiful Roses. It's just a nice thought. How time heals everything.

When Carl von Linné was introduced to the theory that humans evolved from Monkeys:

Carolus Rex (Karl XII) in his crowning clothes. He was 15 at the time of his crowning.

Fun fact: Karl XII may have accidentally dropped his crown the day of his crowning, for it was too big for his head. This would have been seen as a huge bad omen, especially since the castle (Tre Kronor) hade just burnt down recently, if it wasn't for the fact that someone catched the crown before if hit the ground, and quickly put it on the king's head again before anyone could see or make note of it.

Swedish Kings in Halloween outfits.

These are just some simple outfit deigns I'm working on. I'm not sure if I'll use it for any bigger project. Maybe I will. It depends if I get the time to develope them.

Picture 1: king Gustav II Adolf (Gustavus Adolphus) as dr. Frankenstein's monster.

Picture 2: king Gustav III as a vampire

Picture 3: King Karl XII (Carolus Rex) as a Werewolf.

I know these designs are really bad, I'm still working on it.

A history/art project in school I've been working on.

I just thought the audio fit Karl XII

Carl von Linné

Carl von Linné: *gives every flower, plant and animal he can find a latin name so that future generations can understand each other*

future generations: *Speaks English instead*

Carl von Linné: