Weapons collection
Archduke John was especially interested in his Austrian fatherland and in the historical occurrences of the 800-year history of the Habsburgs.
Weapons of warfare are an inextricable part of this: Archduke John’s collection of weapons from various eras and European countries cover the previous 600 years and is one of the most extensive and diverse of its kind in Tyrol:
Cutting and stabbing weapons, helmets, shields and armour from the Middle Ages; firearms and equipment from the Thirty Years’ War; cannons and other, in some cases bizarre weapons from the Tyrolean liberation struggles of 1809; exotic weapons from the Turkish wars of 1529 and 1683; guns, pistols and crossbows from the 15th to the 18th centuries, sabres, swords and other officers’ weapons from the Imperial era of the 19th century; and, last but not least, the executioners’ sword of Meran, used from 1733 to 1787 by the Putzer family of executioners.
Weapons of warfare are an inextricable part of this: Archduke John’s collection of weapons from various eras and European countries cover the previous 600 years and is one of the most extensive and diverse of its kind in Tyrol:
Cutting and stabbing weapons, helmets, shields and armour from the Middle Ages; firearms and equipment from the Thirty Years’ War; cannons and other, in some cases bizarre weapons from the Tyrolean liberation struggles of 1809; exotic weapons from the Turkish wars of 1529 and 1683; guns, pistols and crossbows from the 15th to the 18th centuries, sabres, swords and other officers’ weapons from the Imperial era of the 19th century; and, last but not least, the executioners’ sword of Meran, used from 1733 to 1787 by the Putzer family of executioners.
