Armour and swords and guns, oh my!

On a double recommendation, we hit the Hofburg palace to check the collection of arms and armour therein.  Three hours and 400 photos later, we emerged convince we had seen one of the greatest collections of 16th and 17th century armour in the world.

Most of this armour isn't "Medieval," but from the early renaissance.  Guns had long since rendered plate armour useless on the battlefield, but jousting and other such sports remained very popular.  These harnesses were essentially expensive sporting equipment.

Some of them would have been almost unwearable, and were designed only to be collectors pieces.  As such, the designs frequently mirror the fashions of the time.

I really enjoyed looking at the exchange sets with different visors.  The visors which gave a human expression were amusing.  The ones designed to look like animals were better.

As we moved through the museum, the influence of different fashions and 'designers' became quite apparent in the different styles of armour on display.

There were hundreds of guns on display, and while the many wheel-locks and flint-locks on display were beautiful, it was this revolver which really took my fancy.  If nothing else, it looked more functional than the ivory rifles in the cases.

Some weapons were distinctly designed not to function.  There was a period when designers were looking to be creative, rather than good.  This 'all in one' weapon was designed to hold all of the tools used in fencing, as well as an oil-lantern in the shield.  The oil lantern could be flared during night-fighting to blind an opponent.  Unfortunately it was very difficult to keep alight, and carried the risk of spilling burning oil all over the user.

The tournament and field harnesses were quite different from the parade and formal suits.  They were distinctly functional, brutal in design and function.

At the end of our time in the museum, I found this picture as a 'special display,' showing the Teutonic knights winning a victory over the Ottomans.  In fact, the curator told me, the Teutons were wiped out to a man.  Score one for history.

More photos of Wien coming.