Styrian Armoury, Graz, Austria - SpottingHistory.com

The Styrian Armoury (Landeszeughaus) is the world's largest historic armoury and attracts visitors from all over the world. It holds approximately 32,000 pieces of weaponry, tools, suits of armour for battle and ones for parades.

Between the 15th century and the 18th century, Styria was on the front line of almost continuous conflict with the Ottoman Empire and with rebels in Hungary. In order to defend itself it needed troops and these troops needed equipment. The Styrian Armoury results from the resulting need to store large quantities of armour and weapons, and was built from 1642 - 1645 by a Tyrolean architect called Antonio Solar.

After about 100 years in use, Austrian empress Maria Theresia wanted to close down the armoury, as part of her centralisation of the defence of Austria. Nevertheless Styria petitioned for the ongoing existence of the armoury for both practical and sentimental reasons. Their petition was accepted and the Armoury was left intact, but largely decommissioned.

References:

Wikipedia

Museums in Austria

User Reviews

INDI sy (7 months ago)
Biggest armory museum! amazing!

David Andriot (8 months ago)
Useless to book the ticket online in advance, since one has to go to their cashier for their statistics anyway. Very unfriendly to families with baby.

Cosmin Busuioc (9 months ago)
Beautifull old armory

Mike Jones (2 years ago)
Incredible collection of late medieval arms and armor. Really feels like you're exploring the armoury as it was when it was last in service. They almost have so many items, they're struggling to display them all. Fantastic.

Maria Carolina Carvalho de Oliveira (2 years ago)
Amazing historical place!

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