Militaria

Expert
Mgr. Jiří Šlajsna
history, archaeology
Email: slajsna.jomgm.cz

The Militaria sub-collection contains a comprehensive collection of firearms and cold weapons, supplemented by components of armor, military gear, and collectible items related to military, hunting, and military themes (models of weapons, felt from battlefields, and others).

The collection of firearms is dated from the late 16th to the mid-20th century. It is divided into firearms and mechanical weapons. The mechanical weapons include a collection of Japanese yumi bows, bows of Indian, Pacific, or African provenance, and a set of European crossbows from the late 16th to the late 19th century. Firearms are represented by both short and long weapons, including both civilian and military designs. The collections include weapons with wheel lock, flintlock, and percussion systems. Likewise, the collections feature weapons with a single cartridge in several systems (Wenzel, Werdl, Mannlicher, Springfield, Luger, Browning, and others).

The collection of cold weapons, including polearms, is dated from the 11th to the mid-20th century. Its largest part consists of a comprehensive collection of cold weapons for the troops and officers of the Army of the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, as well as cold weapons of French, Swedish, Prussian, German, Polish, Russian, and Soviet provenance. Another part of this collection is a comprehensive collection of hunting sabers and knives from the 18th to the 20th century, as well as weapons found from the medieval and early modern periods. Among the polearms, halberds for the national guard from 1848 prevail, but there are also pole weapons from the 16th to the 19th century. An interesting part is the collection of Chinese temple weapons or spears, harpoons, and javelins of Pacific, Australian, and African provenance.

Armor is mainly represented by several pieces of Japanese Gusoku armor from the 18th and 19th centuries. European armor from the 16th and 17th centuries is only represented fragmentarily, and the core of the collection consists of standardized types from the 18th and 19th centuries. Military equipment largely consists of a comprehensive and very high-quality collection of steel helmets from the 20th century. All basic models of helmets from Austria-Hungary, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Romania, Russia, and the Soviet Union are represented here. Additionally, there are components of military, police, or party uniforms, including headgear, gas masks, parts of military backpacks, belts, buckles, and others.

Other items consist of collectible collections of powder flasks, ammunition, and explosives (without explosive components), artillery fuses, models of weapons, felt from battlefields, concentration and extermination camps, or souvenirs related to military themes.