Armoury

PERMANENT EXHIBITION

Armoury

The armoury is housed in the Gothic cellars of the castle. Across six consecutive vaulted rooms and the adjoining corridor, European and Oriental weapons from the 16th to the early 20th century are on display. The armoury presents combat weapons, both offensive and defensive, as well as hunting, sporting and duelling weapons.

Notable objects include executioners' swords, with which criminals were punished. Their blunt blades bear Latin inscriptions: IURIS VICTORIAE (Justice will triumph) or, as on the sword of the town of Pszczyna from the 17th century, RECTO FACIENDO NEMINEM TIMEAS (Acting justly, you need fear no one). Pole weapons are mainly halberds and partisans (16th–18th c.) used by infantry and castle guards, and long cavalry lances from the 19th and 20th centuries. A distinctive group are the hunting and target crossbows, some decorated with inlay featuring figural scenes. The oldest, Renaissance one is dated 1534.The most numerous firearms are hand guns, carbines, shotguns and pistols with matchlock, wheel-lock, flintlock, percussion-cap and needle-fire mechanisms. Among the most interesting are the small-calibre, richly inlaid shotguns for hunting birds and small game, known after their place of manufacture as cieszynki. They date from the second half of the 17th century. The second large group is edged weapons, primarily military. Alongside early 16th- and 17th-century swords, rapiers and small swords, there are 18th–20th-century broadswords, sabres and tesaks used by various European armies, including the Polish one (e.g. sabres model 1917, 1921 and 1934).

Among defensive weapons, visitors can see a complete knight's armour from around 1530, a Polish hussar cuirass from the late 17th century, closed helmets, morions (16th–17th c.), and 19th-century cuirassier breastplates and helmets. Notable objects linked to Polish military tradition include a gilded gorget with a painted image of Our Lady of Częstochowa from the time of the Confederation of Bar (1768–1772), and two sabre-scabbards: one belonging to the Prince of Pszczyna, Fryderyk Erdmann Anhalt-Köthen-Pless, and a second Polish one with a silver cover and the Nałęcz coat of arms. In one of the rooms of the armoury, Oriental weapons are displayed, mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries, including Persian armour, helmets, shields and sabres, Turkish and Balkan pistols and yataghans, and Japanese swords (katana) and samurai armour.

Relatively numerous are newer weapons from the second half of the 19th and the 20th century. The First World War, when the German Supreme Command was based at Pszczyna Castle, is represented by weapons from that period. These include breech-loading rifles (single-shot and repeating), an interesting trench mortar and hand-operated grenade launcher, a twin-barrelled machine gun and the heavy Fiat wz. 1914 machine gun, as well as Austrian, Prussian, French and Russian sabres. Paintings from that time include the Military staff of Emperor Wilhelm II against the backdrop of the castle (painted by A.R. Benno), a portrait of the Prince of Pszczyna Hans Heinrich XV von Hochberg, adjutant to the Emperor, and of his wife Princess Daisy as a Red Cross sister. During the First World War she provided aid to prisoners of war. The armoury also displays edged weapons, namely sabres used by the Polish Army after Poland regained independence in 1918, both of foreign origin and of domestic production, model 1917, 1921 and 1934.

Worthy of attention are paintings of Polish lancers by Wojciech Kossak and Stanisław Ligoń, and a bronze plaquette with a bust of Marshal of Poland Józef Piłsudski, which comes from the monument once standing on the Pszczyna market square. The armoury also contains sporting edged and firearms, duelling pistols, shooting targets and photographs…