The Armoury

Shaft weapons and two-handed swords are exhibited in the entrance hall to the Armoury. The main exhibits are representational halberds used by court and city guards. Some of them are richly decorated and bear the coats of arms of such rulers as: Archduke Ferdinand (who later became the Emperor), Archduke Ernest, Ferdinand the Prince of Bavaria, and the Archbishops of Salzburg: Wolf Dietrich von Reitenau, and Paris and Francis Lodron. The 16th century glaives bearing the coats of arms of the Saxon dynasty of Wettin and the figure of Lucrecia is of unique artistic value. A group of partisans from the court guards of John Casimir, Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki, John III Sobieski, Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III the Saxon has connections with Poland. The collection of two-handed swords from the 16th and early 17th centuries, along with the sword used by Julius II of Brunswick’s guardsmen is also very valuable. 

Suits of armour are exhibited in this room. The complete German plated suits o f armour from the 16th and early 17th centuries are examples of the medieval tradition. Especially noteworthy, for its exquisite construction and a esthetic value, is a tournament suit of armour from the Court of Artus in Gdańsk made by the Nurembergian armourer Konrad Poler c. 1490. Most exhibits are half-suits of Polish Hussars’ armour from the 17th century, among them a unique item with its original wings. The scaled suits of armour used in Poland in the late 17th and in the first half of the 18th centuries are real rarities.

This room contains western European weapons from the late 15th to the ear ly 19th centuries. There are medieval and modern swords, rapiers, cavalrymen’s swords and sabres. Particularly eye-catching are ceremonial artefacts, richly decorated and made in the best German, Italian, French and Spanish centres. Among the elements of protective suits of armour, two very rare hussar kapalins from the end of the 17th century deserve particular attention. A small collection of Polish sabres contains select examples of curved swords, hussar sabres, and a unique czeczuga (an Armenian sabre). An important historic artefact is the pommel of a cavalryman’s sword which belonged to the Grand Crown Hetman Stanislas Jabłonowski, a participant in the battle of Vienna (1683).

This room houses hand and projectile weapons. The exhibits include mag nificent rifles, arquebuses, patrinals and pistols, ivory-incrusted and with etched decoration, from German, Silesian, French, Spanish and Polish factories (16th to the early 19th centuries). There are also interesting, primarily German, crossbows used for hunting and sports with one beautiful piece made in Poland in 1725 for the Crown Chamberlain Kazimierz Poniatowski.

Copies of banners captured from the Teutonic Knights at Grunwald in 1410 hang under the vault in the first basement, reflecting the tradition of bringing trophies captured from an enemy to Wawel Castle. These banners were recreated in the 20th C. from very detailed descriptions by Jan Dlugosz and miniatures by Stanisław Durinek in his work entitled "Banderia Prutenorum".

Two small cannons (from the mid 16th C.) cast by the Nurembegian founder, Oswald Baldner, commissioned by Sigismund Augustus, are examples of exquisite artistry. A collection of barrels which bear the coats of arms of Polish kings, hetmans and noblemen, the work of celebrated metal casters, is one of the most valuable in the country (alongside the Polish Army Museum collection in Warsaw) and are considered important throughout Europe.