Museums in the Munich and Frankfurt Area

[TVV]

I will be in Munich and Frankfurt for vacation soon and was wondering what those with local knowledge would recommend as museum and weapon collections in and around these two cities. Thank you,

Teodor

[Sajen]

Both cities have ethnographic museums.
I only saw that in Frankfurt, it was very disappointing. Although they have a large collection, some are only displayed during special exhibitions as they have very limited exhibition space.
Munich has permanent exhibitions, it says on their site, see for yourself if there is an interesting area for you, they are briefly introduced there.
Here the home page from the "Museum 5 Kontinente": https://www.museum-fuenf-kontinente.de/services/english-summary.html
And here the home page from the "Weltkulturen Museum" in Frankfurt: https://www.weltkulturenmuseum.de/en/
The page is also in English, like given.
Enjoy your stay in Germany!:):cool:

Regards,
Detlef

[TVV]

Thank you Detlef. I will try to visit both the ethnographic museums, but I am also looking forward to seeing some European arms and armor collections.

[Sajen]

Thank you Detlef. I will try to visit both the ethnographic museums, but I am also looking forward to seeing some European arms and armor collections.

In this case you should visit the "Bayrische Nationalmuseum" : https://www.bayerisches-nationalmuseum.de/en/visit
The "Bayrische Armeemuseum": https://www.armeemuseum.de/en/

[corrado26]

you shouldn't miss the museum with the biggest arms collection in Germany, the Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung at Koblenz. https://www.bundeswehr.de/de/organisation/ausruestung-baainbw/organisation/wehrtechnische-studiensammlung

[fernando]

you shouldn't miss the museum with the biggest arms collection in Germany, the Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung at Koblenz. https://www.bundeswehr.de/de/organisation/ausruestung-baainbw/organisation/wehrtechnische-studiensammlung
Is it all about military contemporary (non antique) stuff, Udo ?

[corrado26]

Besides modern arms - single loaders and machine guns - there are lots of antique firearms from wheellock, flintlock, percussion to needlefire on display. The museum will reopen on july 19th. I had the honor to work there for months identifying and describing unidentified military pistols and guns.

[fernando]

Noted :cool:.

[TVV]

Thank you for the suggestions. I will try to visit as many museums as I can and then will post pictures here.

[Akanthus]

In Munich you should visit the " Deutsches Jagd - und Fischereimuseum ".It's not very far away from the townhall.Beside the development of hunting they show wonderful huntingweapons from the earliest times until the 19th.century.It's located in an former monastery.
If you visit Rothenbug ob der Tauber, visit also the " Rothenburgmuseum" .They show the Baumann Collection,where you can visit a rich variety of arms and armour of central europe.
A bit away from your destinations you can visit the " Veste Coburg " .It's the castle of the city of Coburg in Bavaria.They also show a great collection of europ weapons . But take enough time ,it's a lot to see.

[TVV]

Many thanks for all the recommendations. I could not see everything, but still ended up visiting 10 or so museums with arms and armor collections, and can share my pictures here. The first place I visited was actually the Jagd und Fischereimuseum in Munich.

[TVV]

I will be posting European arms and armor here, and all the ethnographic items in a separate post in the appropriate forum.

[TVV]

The museum is conveniently located in the heart of Munich's downtown, and is very easy to find and visit.

[TVV]

All the weapons and accessories are on the very stop story of the museum.

[TVV]

Overall, a very impressive collection of hunting arms and accessories.

[fernando]

Just one word, Teodor; SUPERB.

[TVV]

The City Museum in Munich has only a few items of arms and armor, and honestly can be skipped.

[TVV]

On the other hand, the Bavarian National Museum is definitely a must visit for anyone who has an interest in European arms and armor.

[TVV]

The collection of late medieval arms and armor is not huge, but the items are of very high quality.

[TVV]

There is an entire hall dedicated to the collection, so everything is in one place.

[TVV]

There are more weapons through the rest of the museum, consisting predominantly of the Bavarian electors' personal arms.

[TVV]

There is a small hall dedicated to hunting weapons as well.

[TVV]

Just like the medieval collection, the quality is superb.

[TVV]

After I was mostly disappointed with the City Museum, the Bavarian National Museum was very enjoyable.

[PhDBrewer]

Thank you for posting these!
Looks like you had an amazing trip. Will have to check these places out!

[RSWORD]

I will be posting European arms and armor here, and all the ethnographic items in a separate post in the appropriate forum.

Looking forward to seeing the ethnographic items when you have a chance to post them. Thanks for sharing pics of some amazing European items.

[TVV]

Staying in Munich, there are some items in the Residence Palace, which consist of coronation swords, ceremonial swords (for example, the Order of St. George initiation sword) and just some really ornate arms that belonged to Wittelsbach monarchs.

[TVV]

Salzburg is an easy train trip away from Munich, and I visited the castle there. It has an "armory", which displays a few replicas, which I am not even going to post here. The castle also houses the museum of the Rainier Regiment of the Austrian army, tracing its history from its creation in the late 17th century, through the Great Turkish War and the Napoleonic Wars.

[TVV]

The story continues through the 1848 Revolutions all the way to WWI.

[TVV]

As the regiment was initially involved on the Eastern front, and then moved to Tyrol, apart from the Austrian weapons there are also some Russian and Italian trophies.

[TVV]

Finally, in the castle main exhibition, there are some nice arms and armor from the 16th and 17th centuries.

[TVV]

The collection includes some nice early firearms as well.

[TVV]

Another city easy to visit from Munich is Nuremberg. It has a lovely old town with a beautiful castle, which houses a lot of nice things.

[TVV]

As typical, the collection starts with arms and armor from the late middle ages. The items here are not as ornate as some of the other museums, but more munitions grade, which is nice too.

[TVV]

After some more late medieval items, the collections transitions into the 17th century and the Thirty Year War.

[TVV]

The swords from this period feature a saber inscribed with the biographies of all the Bavarian princes and electors. There are quite a few early firearms as well.

[TVV]

The collection has some really beautiful accessories, such as powder flasks as well.

[TVV]

There was another display of attractive swords, of which my personal favorite was the calendar blade.

[TVV]

Nice to also see some daggers, as well as quite a few zweihanders.

[TVV]

Horse armor and saddles end the castle museum tour, but there is far more to see in Nuremberg, and I will continue the thread when I have more time next weekend.

[TVV]

The best museum I visited in Germany was the German National Museum in Nuremberg. It has a fantastic arms and armor collection. One of the first things one sees is a rare great helmet. I also liked the malchus with the carved wooden hilt.

[TVV]

The collection is predominantly from the late middle ages to the 17th century.

[TVV]

There is another calendar blade and an amazing blade with scenes and verses from the Bible.

[TVV]

As one can expect, there are quite a few high-quality items from the Thirty Year War period.

[TVV]

As usual, there is a section of beautiful hinting weapons and accessories.

[TVV]

The German National Museum also holds arms and armor from antiquity. For me at least, so many nice bronze swords, daggers and helmets all at the same place was quite a sight.

[TVV]

The Roman period is represented by some daggers, spathas and helmets, including a unique parade helmet.

[TVV]

The tour continues into late antiquity and the migration period, with a lot of Lobard grave items.

[TVV]

Then of course come the Franks and the Carolingian dynasty. I really liked the two Ulfbehrt swords with nice, inlaid pommels.

[TVV]

Finally, there are a few additional medieval items as part of the medieval art galleries, and this ends my tour of the German National Museum. It is a place where anyone with interest in arms and armor will feel like a kid in a candy store.

[TVV]

The Frankfurt History Museum can hardly compare to the German National Museum, but it has an interesting section called the "Collectors" Museum", which displays collections of local collectors. Luckily, this includes some nice arms and armor.

[TVV]

Among the late medieval and Rennaissance arms and armor there are also some blue and gilt swords by a local Frankfurt bladesmith family.

[TVV]

Apart from swords, there is also armor, crossbows and polearms.

[TVV]

Instead of labels next to the items, the museum has chosen to put a couple of books with descriptions and a brief history of how the collection came together.

[TVV]

The firearms collection interestingly enough belonged to Frida Kahlo's great uncle.

[fernando]

Thank you ever so much Teodor, for sharing these magnificent pictures with us in the forum.

[ulfberth]

Thank you Teodore , for the tremendous amount of work and effort you have put into this that lets us enjoy Museums in other countries !
I would be nice to see more museum pictures from other members from all over the world.
Kind regards
Ulfberth

[TVV]

With some delay, here are a lot of pictures from the Stadtsmuseum in Rothenburg, which houses the Baumann collection.

[TVV]

The museum is housed in an old building, which from what I recall used to be a monastery. There are other items on display, but I was there for the arms and armor and there was plenty of it.

[TVV]

The collection starts with a large hall, dedicated to European arms and armor from the late Middle Ages to the 1700s.

[TVV]

Considering that this is really a private collection, all assembled in recent times, the scope is quite impressive.

[TVV]

It is a testament to what is possible through a combination of passion and sufficient financial resources.

[TVV]

I am not aware if anyone has gone through the effort of cataloguing and publishing the collection. If not, hopefully someone eventually does.

[TVV]

There are, as has been noted in the past, some items in the collection that are of dubious origins. A careful study by the right experts should be able to separate the genuine ones from the fakes.

[TVV]

To be fair, most of us have probably acquired some fakes inadvertently as part of the learning process in collecting. If we could collect on the scale Baumann did, we would probably end up with a good number of questionable items as well.

[TVV]

My favorite questionable item in the whole collection is the sword with the fantasy silver hilt, pattern welded blade and Omani scabbard.

[TVV]

Someone went as far as to add an inscription in gold on one side, and an Alexandria arsenal dedication on the other side. Then the whole thing was assigned to Eastern Europe, and one actually has to admire the imagination of whoever produced this sword.

[TVV]

Recent examination revealed some fakes in the Wallace collection, so nobody is immune and a fantasy sword by itself is not the end of the world. The problem is that it puts into question all the medieval swords and one cannot help but wonder what parts of them are genuine and what may have been recently added to enhance value, such as symbols and inscriptions on the blades.

[TVV]

We are now almost through with the first hall.

[TVV]

After some early and important firearms, there is a little hallway dedicated to the 30-year war.

[TVV]

The hallway takes us to a small room, full of archaeological finds of weapons dating from the Dark Ages...

[TVV]

...all the way through antiquity to the stone age.

[TVV]

And just when I thought this was it, it turned out there is another large hall full of nice hunting weapons, which seems to be the norm for every German museum.

[TVV]

The quality was just as impressive as the quantity.

[TVV]

The highlight is a mameluke sword that belonged to Jerome Bonaparte, and a hunting sword that was Marie Antoinette's.

[TVV]

This is where the tour and the journey ends. Hope you enjoyed the pictures, even if some of the items in the Baumann collection are dubious.

[werecow]

:eek:

Crazy that this is a private collection. I can barely imagine ever owning even one of these medieval swords or renaissance rapiers in my life. Barely... but I can try! :p

[corrado26]

I know this museum's collection rather well and I think that a good part of it belongs to a well known dealer of southern Germany!