Horse armour at the Styrian Armoury, Conrad Suesenhoferm Innsbruck, Circa 1510, from the property of Georg von Stuebenberg-Wurmberg. ©Harry Schiffer.
This surprising museum – in the equally surprising city of Graz, Austria – houses the world’s largest collection of medieval armour and arms. Even the building in which it sits is interesting – it was established as an armoury in the early 1640s. There are 32,000 pieces dating from the 1400s to the early 1800s situated over four, history-trodden floors.
Visitors will be swept away with the sheer amount of suits of armour, helmets, shields and chain mail, along with a barrage of swords, including two-handed, sabres, broadswords and bayonets, artillery such as cannons and mortars, an incredible range of pistols and gruesome polearms. There is even full-size horse armour, which must have been incredibly heavy.
