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Auf dem Bild ist eine kunstvolle Verzierung eines historischen Geschützrohrs zu sehen. Diese Verzierung besteht aus kunstvoll gestalteten Greifvogelköpfen, die an den Köpfen des Geschützrohrs angebracht sind.

Artillery Halls

Artillery Halls

Our Artillery Collection

The Artillery Collection of the Museum of Military History includes both gun barrels and complete guns on mountings or gun carriages, totalling around 550 pieces. This makes it one of the most important collections of its kind.

A large number of guns came from the old imperial armoury. During the First World War the collection grew steadily through the incorporation of projects and experimental guns as well as numerous new acquisitions of captured enemy guns.

The total number of guns available at this time can only be estimated today - probably around 1200 barrels and complete guns.

During the Second World War, many historically valuable pieces were melted down and recycled as part of the iron and non-ferrous metal extraction process. This procedure was continued in the immediate post-war period in order to finance the reconstruction of the museum through the sale of then-scarce metals.

In addition to the exhibits that can be viewed directly in the halls and at the front of the museum, particularly rare and beautifully decorated gun barrels are presented in two separate buildings, the so-called artillery halls.

The national and international history of artillery

The hall on the left, as seen from the museum, is dedicated to the development of Austrian artillery from the Middle Ages to the 18th century.

The right artillery hall mainly contains "foreign" gun barrels, which can be seen in the centre area.

The side chambers of the artillery halls present select pieces of Austrian artillery. Next to the smaller guns from the 15th century, the wrought-iron bombard "Pumhart von Steyr" is particularly impressive: it could fire projectiles weighing more than 600 kg. In addition to numerous early breech-loading guns, the exhibition also shows the transition to modern artillery of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The artillery halls are open to visitors from April to October.