For defence and attack, fight and entertainment…
A castle and weapons have, since time immemorial, been closely connected. Therefore, following the installation of a contemporary castle kitchen and a bedroom, the museum had decided to instal also a castle arsenal at the Spiš castle. A collection of contemporary weapons that used to serve for defence as well as attack is still being supplemented and enhanced by new pieces which could have had a connotation to the castle and its life. Cannons, swords, lances and spears, mace bludgeons, arquebuses, bazookas and defensive armour are gradually being supplemented by cords, hunting cutlasses and sabres.
In the course of time, military weapons had turned into decorative ones which used to be a symbol of the social status or served for entertainment. A rapier and a cord with a long slim, and mainly light, blade had developed from a heavy mighty sword. A cord used to serve also as a training or even decorative aristocratic weapon and ranked in the category of cold stabbing weapons.
A hunting cutlass was part of every aristocrat’s gear, since hunting was their every day entertainment. It filled in their time but it also involved care of the game in their forests. A hunting cutlass was a weapon with a rather short and wide blade which mainly served the purpose to „finish“ the hunted down animal.
In addition to cold weapons, they were also keen on firearms,too. Cannons, mortars and muskets had been replaced by rifles and pistols. In the 19th century there appeared also the so-called gallery weapons that served the purpose of indoor entertainment or training. The so-called Flobert pistol comes from this category. It is a small caliber pistol which was named after its manufacturer – the French gunsmith Louis Nicolas Auguste Flobert (1819 – 1894). Today the weapons from the museum collections are displayed in the castle arsenal of the Spiš castle. How did they use it? Watch our video…