The mighty Vasa galleon

 In 1626 king Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden decided to built "Vasa", a warship that Baltic sea have never seen before. He was very focused on his naval forces, believing that war success depends on the strength of his ships. After more than two years of construction, Henrik Hybertsson reported that the ship is ready.

Gustavus was all the time involved in construction, asking for many changes and improvements. He knew that Vasa will be crucial in war with Poland. War that will decide who rules Baltic Sea. Henrik Hyberston, main constructor decided that the ship will be 61 meters long and 12 meters wide. Vasa had 1210 tons buoyancy, 1275 sq meters of sail and 64 main cannons. Yet before first sail Vasa became the pride of Stockholm. The ship was also a target for spies. 

10th August 1628 almost everyone in Stockholm went to the docks to sea first sail of the mighty Vasa. The weather was perfect, 100 sailors with their families were ready to sail. In the harbor everything seems fined. Vasa was slowly leaving Stockholm. But just after passing rock breakwater, Vasa's construction defects became clear. The ship was too narrow and too high. Galleon had troubles not only wind mild wind but also with low waves. 120 tones of ballast could not balance weight of cannons.  

Just after 1300 meters a strong blow of wind overturn board. Salty water immediately bursted into cannon holes. In mater of minutes Vasa was under the water taking lives of 30-50 men. 

12 hours after sinking its captain, Hansson, was arrested and interrogated. But very quickly after it became obvious that no one on the board was responsible for this loss. Few weeks before first sail shipwrights had a stability test that proved that Vasa is dangerous and can easily overturn. Its constructor, Hybertsson died year before sinking. Swedish king was not present that day in Stockholm. He was informed two weeks later, in Prussia. He became furious and wanted to punish anyone involved in sinking. But official investigation did not found who was responsible for this tragedy. 

Just hours after sinking first engineers wanted to haul out Vasa. But it became clear that this operation is too complicated and risky. For 300 years Vasa was resting 30 meters under the water. 

Baltic Sea can be dangerous, but it can also greatly preserve wood. Low temperatures, less salty and without naval shipworms can conservate ships for hundreds of years. In 1956 scientists finally found the ship. 

It started national collection to haul it from the bottom. After months of analysis Sweden decided that the will try to bring it back to air by special dinghies, pumps and pipes. In 1961 Vasa came back. 

After years of restoration it finally stands in Stockholm and it's the largest 17th century warship that we can see today.

 

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1000 years ago some Viking lost in the lake his chest...

 

In 1936 Hugo Kraft was ploughing his field when found a strange encircled by an iron chain chest. It contained the largest collection of tools of this date so far found: iron working and carpenter's tools, raw materials, un-finished products. His field was located on a drained lake. 

During the Viking Age, the area where Mästermyr mire is located used to be a lake. The mire was drained in 1902–10. Most of the find had been placed in the chest, but there were also objects around it such as three bronze cauldrons, three bells and a fire-grid of iron. A chain, made up of 26 figure-of-eight shaped links, was wrapped around it. It served both as an extra lock and handle since the chest was too heavy for the original handle. The chest and the other items had probably been placed in a boat which capsized and sank in the lake. Another theory is that the chest was temporarily hidden at the water's edge.

The chest contained Viking-era blacksmithing and woodworking tools. It also contained several products of such work, including elements of several locks. The chest and its contents provide a valuable insight into technology during the Viking Age.

The chest, 90 cm (35 in) long, 26 cm (10 in) wide and 24 cm (9.4 in) high, was made of oak with iron hinges and lock. It was intact despite the rough encounter with the plow. It was rectangular with a slightly curved lid and flat bottom. The bottom was joined to the ends via a mortise and through tenon. Pegs were used to attach the sides to the bottom and end pieces. The ends and sides were trapezoidal and slightly angled. A lock wrought from iron was attached to the front side of the chest.

The chest contained over 200 tools and blacksmith works or works in progress, making it the largest Viking tool find in Europe. The tools resemble early Roman tools, now on display in museums in Germany, among those the Saalburg. Technological influences spread throughout Europe with the expansion of the Roman empire. The ensuing trade carried ideas and craftsmanship further to regions far from Rome.

The contents of the chest indicate that it belonged to a travelling craftsman who made repairs and produced new items. The tools show that he was a smith and a carpenter, and had some knowledge of locks, coppersmithing and coopering. Among the items were three padlocks of a design inspired by Roman locks and of the same kind that were found at excavations in Birka.

Some of the tools and objects in the chest:

Three padlocks

Two keys

Springs, plates and other parts of locks

Three sledgehammers

Three hammers

One ball-peen hammer

One pair of large forging tongs

One pair of snips

Four smaller anvils

Tools for making nails

Three stamping pads

Some smaller axes

One large broadaxe

One wide adze

One hand saw

Six spoon-augers

One saw blade

One chisel

One gouge

Four files

Two knives

Two bradawls

One spatula

Two sharpening stones

One steelyard balance

Four clamps

One hacksaw

Two rasps

One pair of tongs

One chisel

One stone chisel

One ash-rake

One punch

Two tripods

Two drawknives

Miscellaneous metal fittings

So in fact 1000 year ago a skilled and wealthy Viking lost his belongings during the sail on the Mastermyr Lake. Imagine how angry he was. Or maybe he also lost his life?

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Amazing staircase of Chantilly Castle

 

Located 40 kilometres north of Paris, in the Picardy region of France, this small town looks like it belongs to a fairytale. The Jewel in the crown of Domaine de Chantilly is the stunning 16th century Chateau, built for Anne de Montmorecy, and is undoubtedly one of the most astonishing French chateau venues near Paris. 

 It comprises two attached buildings; the Grand Château, destroyed during the French Revolution and rebuilt in the 1870s, and the Petit Château which was built around 1560 for Anne, Duc de Montmorency. It is now owned by the Institut de France, and is open to the public. The first mansion (no longer extant, now replaced by the Grand Château) was built in 1528-1531 for the Constable Anne de Montmorency by Pierre Chambiges. The Petit Château was also built for him, around 1560, and probably by Jean Bullant. The original mansion was destroyed in the French Revolution. It was repaired in a modest way by the last Condé, but then entirely rebuilt in 1875-1881 by Henri d'Orléans, duc d'Aumale (1822-1897) to the designs of Honore Daumet. The château’s art gallery, the Musée Condé, houses one of the finest collections of historical paintings in France (after the Louvre), with special strength in French paintings and book illuminations of the 15th and 16th centuries. The library of the Petit Château contains over 700 manuscripts and 12,000 volumes, including a Gutenberg Bible, Les très riches heures du Duc de Berry and Jean Fouquet’s Book of Hours of Etienne Chevalier.

Honoré Daumet was responsible for this jaw-dropping work of art that functions as the newel Post, balustrade and railing of this magnificent space. Wrought iron, copper, brass and bronze were morphed into an explosion of detail...the head of a ram, fleur di lis, the head of Medusa, the royal crown, initials of the Duke of Aumale, swords, floral embellishments as well as ribbons.

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Amazing historical artifacts #1

 

Coin (silver) from Syracuse, Greece around 466 BCE

A pair of intricately cut shoes that were found on a bog body from over 2,300 years ago

Helmet made by Milanese armorer Filippo Negroli; 1543

Corsican vendetta knife with floral detail. The blade reads: “Che la mia ferita sia mortale" - or roughly: “may all your wounds be mortal”. 19th century

Ancient sense of humor: Greek lead sling bullet, inscribed with DEXAI, (meaning in greek "Catch!“) 1600 years old

Roman gold helmet, 4th century AD

Viking burial stone ships, Lindholm Høje, Denmark. 1000-1200 AD

Chantilly Castle, wrought iron railing made in 1870 by the Moreau brothers on drawing of architect Honoré Daumet.

Illustration of a lion, leopard, rabbit, and elephant from memory/description, taken from Tractatus de Herbis (Italy ca. 1440)

Unfinished obelisk in Aswan, Egypt. 1500 BC

Hoof prints found at the Amphitheatre of Serdica, Bulgaria, dating to the about the 3rd–4th centuries AD.

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Chinese gold sword

 

In Ancient China, gold and silver were not the prestigious materials they were in the West. Jade and bronze were more highly prized. Gold was used for decorative purposes, as inlay or coating on bronze or lacquer, and only very rarely for vessels or other independent objects.

However, in the Eastern Zhou period(771-221 BC) gold began to be increasingly used on a larger scale, though goldworking still relied to a great extent on well-established bronze technology, with ornaments and other items cast using moulds instead of beaten into shape. 

This sword's handle has a conspicuous line on its sides, showing that it was probably cast in a two-piece mould. The hilt is hollowed out and both sides are decorated with a design known as 'dragon interlace'

The gold hilt is fragile, which probably made it impractical for use on a battle sword. It may have been made for display or for placing in a tomb for taking to the afterlife.

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Scythian golden comb

Scythian golden comb with a battle scene, discovered in Solokha Tumulus, Dnieper region, Ukraine - Late 5th-early 4th century BC

The art of the Scythians combined Eastern elements with influences from the Hellenic ancient states on the northern Black Sea coast. The combination gave the art an exquisite and unique quality.

The center of Scythian art can be considered Panticapaeum, the capital of the Bosporan Kingdom. The many Scythian artifacts found in kurhans in Southern Ukraine and the Kuban were either imported from Greece or made by indigenous Hellenic and Scythian artisans.

Scythian jewelery in particular attained a high level of intricacy and magnificence.

Now on display at Stage Hermitage Museum in Sankt Petersburg, Russia

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Kawari Kabuto(Exotic Helmet) - Japan

 

Kawari Kabuto(Exotic Helmet) - Japan, Momoyama period, 16th century

Kabuto is a type of helmet first used by ancient Japanese warriors, and in later periods, they became an important part of the traditional Japanese armour worn by the samurai class and their retainers in feudal Japan.

This kawari kabuto is a type of exotic helmet cotaining a zunari (head-shaped) three plate iron of 'yaro-to' (rough fellow's head) shape with boar's bristle forming the hair with a tied top-knot, the mabisashi of a further plate of red-lacquered iron forming a high forehead, maedate (fore-crest) of two opposed carp of wood with gold foil, a four tier gold-lacquered Hineno shikoro (neck guard) of close red-laced itazane (plain iron sheet), single sheet iron red-lacquered reisei (fierce style) menpo (face mask) with gold-lacquered teeth, vestiges of a bristle moustache, four tier yodarekake (bib) lacquered gold and red-laced matching theshikoro

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Memento mori ring

 Memento Mori Swivel Ring - England, 16th century

Designs of death in jewellery and art are constantly evolving. Symbolism is the core of identity in a culture, being the basic interpretations of value. When there are times of turmoil, the fact of death becomes more immediate in designs, which this memento mori ring displays in its values.

The concept of death being a factor that can happen at any moment is a message to the wearer or viewer of the symbol that life must be savoured to the moment and that final judgement awaits all. It is part an ecclesiastical statement as well as one of the intellectual and aristocratic, who could afford to adorn themselves with the memento mori symbolism. 

This ring is a perfect representation of symbolism predominant in 16th century. On one side is a skull enamelled white; on the other side is a merchant's mark and monogram. Surrounding the swivel plate, the bezel is inscribed with "+MORS BONIS *GRATA", which translates to "Death is pleasing to the good" 

Memento mori and its adaptation into jewellery and accessories is a unique look into how human behaviour and identity. 

On display at the British Museum in London 

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Fox in a monk costume. 1530, Denmark

Satire on the clergy was well known in the Middle Ages. But the small approx. 6 cm. tall ivory figure of a fox in a monk's robe and with a rosary in his paws belongs well in the anti-Catholic propaganda around the Reformation. Found in Copenhagen, Denmark. Might be also connected to Reynard the Fox (a medieval collection of stories in which all people are animals, from Central Europe, about a trickster fox). 

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Tooth worms as Hell’s Demon’, 18th century depiction

 

Tooth worms have a long history, first appearing in a Sumerian text around 5,000 BC. References to tooth worms can be found in China, Egypt and India long before the belief finally takes root (pun intended) into Western Europe in the 8th century. Treatment of tooth worms varied depending on the severity of the patient’s pain. Often, practitioners would try to ‘smoke’ the worm out by heating a mixture of beeswax and henbane seed on a piece of iron and directing the fumes into the cavity with a funnel. Afterwards, the hole was filled with powered henbane seed and gum mastic.  This may have provided temporary relief given the fact that henbane is a mild narcotic. Many times, though, the achy tooth had to be removed altogether. Some tooth-pullers mistook nerves for tooth worms, and extracted both the tooth and the nerve in what was certainly an extremely painful procedure in a period before anaesthetics.

The tooth worm came under attack in the 18th century when Pierre Fauchard—known today as the father of modern dentistry—posited that tooth decay was linked to sugar consumption and not little creatures burrowing inside the tooth. In the 1890s, W.D. Miller took this idea a step further, and discovered through a series of experiments that bacteria living inside the mouth produced acids that dissolved tooth enamel when in the presence of fermentable carbohydrates.

Despite these discoveries, many people continued to believe in the existence of tooth worms even into the 20th century. The piece of art at the top of the article is titled ‘The Tooth Worm as Hell’s Demon.’ It was created in the 18th century by an unknown artist, and is carved from ivory. It is an incredibly intricate piece when you consider it only stands a little over 4 inches tall. The two halves open up to reveal a scene about the infernal torments of a toothache depicted as a battle with the tooth worm, complete with mini skulls, hellfire, and naked humans wielding clubs.

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Roman lead pipes in Bath

 In southwestern England there is a natural site that was once ruled by an Iron Age people known as the Dobunni. Here is found the only hot water springs in England, bringing mineral-laden water from the depths of the earth.

When the Roman Legion arrived here in A.D. 43 they immediately recognized the significance of the site. After a regional revolt was forcefully put down in A.D. 60, the Romans began to turn the natural springs into spectacular sacred baths. The hot springs had to be controlled so Roman engineers began the placement of oak piles driven deep into the mud while lead pipes directed the sacred water into a 6-foot (2-meter) deep lead sheet-lined reservoir. Bathers would enter the sacred water by four steep steps that surrounded the entire bath.

The sacred water that still flow into the baths today once fell as rain in a nearby region known as Mendip Hills hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Slowly it percolated down through the layers of limestone to a depth of over 3 miles (5 km) where the Earth's natural heat warms the water to between 147 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit (64 and 96 degrees Celsius).

The water is colorless, but what is seen today at the baths is very green because of the algae growth that is stimulated by the heat and sunshine. Water from the baths is not recommended for drinking or bathing since it still flows through the lead pipes laid down so many years ago by the Romans.

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