West european arms and armor
15th-17th centuries. Display case.
The collection of 15th-17th century West European arms and armor includes suits of armor for battle and tournaments, helmets, and ceremonial side-arms and fire-arms made at the major European centers of arms production by the master armorers and gunsmiths of France, Germany, and Holland.
Usually such armor was brought to Russia as a gift, but it never found practical application here. Most frequently, these foreign oddities graced walls and reception halls in the chambers of the Russian boyars and tsars.
The earliest article in this collection is an excellent suit of 15th-century Gothic armor (center). It consists of separate smallish plates of steel which were adjusted to fit the wearer and fastened with moveable rivets. Knights were also armed with double-edged swords, halberds, and lances.
As fire-arms came into wider use in the 16th and 17th centuries, the role of side-arms declined.
