Armor of the Glenbow Museum
Glenbow Museum building in Calgary
"... and let it be kept with you until the fourteenth day of this month:"
Book of Exodus, 12:6
Book of Exodus, 12:6
Weapons collections of museums around the world. Museums, as you know, are different. And they store a variety of objects and artifacts. It seems that there are special art galleries. However, paintings also hang in museums. There are special museums aviation equipment, railway, armored, but there are also museums where a little bit of everything is kept. There are ethnographic museums - for example, the National Museum of Indians of the United States, or the Ainu Museum in Hokkaido, which, by the way, we somehow even managed to visit. That is, each museum is unique in its own way, and its exhibits are not similar to the exhibits of other museums. Or, on the contrary, they are their analogues, and then, based on the coincidence of both, interesting assumptions can be made. So the Glenbow Museum in the city of Calgary (Alberta, Canada) is one of these "universal" museums, in which there is nothing. And it is one of the largest museums in western Canada. And he's basically just doing the conservation stories exploration and development of this particular region. The entire exposition is located in 20 halls, the total area of which is 8600 m², and the collection itself has more than one million different items.
And the history of this museum began in 1966 with the founding of the Glenbow Albert Institute. At the same time, a major oil tycoon and philanthropist Eric L. Harvey donated his entire historical collection to the people of Alberta. After that, the Institute began to manage the Glenbow Museum, and it contains not only its own museum collections, but also a very extensive collection of various works of art, as well as an even larger library (more than 100 thousand books) and an archive - about 2 million photographs of documents.
And historically, there are four main sections in the museum's exposition:
• Cultural stories
• Ethnography
• Military history
• Mineralogy
Here is such an unusual selection, most likely caused by the original selection of exhibits given by Eric Harvey. Thus, the collection of items on the history of culture includes more than 100 thousand items from various parts of the Earth. There are also objects that allow one to imagine life in Western Canada from the end of the XNUMXth century to the present day. There is a collection of ceramics from Alberta and Western Canada, a collection of aboriginal clothing (which we saw in the previous material here on VO), a rich collection of coins and a collection of documents and artifacts dedicated to the exploration of the North of Canada.
The exposition of armor and weapons in the museum is organized in a rather unusual way: Indian combat shirts and shields coexist with cuirassier plate armor of the XNUMXth century. But this, apparently, is the idea of the exhibitors - to show the similarities and differences in the means of attack and defense, taken from different parts of the world and belonging to different eras!
The ethnographic collection contains about 48 thousand artifacts of the indigenous peoples of North America (Indians and Eskimos): the Northern Plain, the Northwest Coast, the Arctic and Subarctic basins. Many items from some regions of South America, as well as Africa, Oceania and Asia. That is, it is, in fact, a museum within a museum, but… combined with painting and a collection of local minerals. The exposition of this exhibition is very popular. In it you can see minerals glowing in the dark, golden pyrites, which received a very apt nickname "fool's gold", as well as rock crystals shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow.
But, of course, we are primarily interested in the collection of weapons, which is quite impressive for a regional museum. It contains about 26 thousand items, and among them weapons and armor of European and Asian origin, including Japanese, and also Canadian medals and orders. So today we will look at the various exhibits of the weapons collection of the Glenbow Museum.
Original armor made from coconut palm fibers. Gilbert Islands (in the western part of the Pacific Ocean, today they belong to the state of Kiribati), mid-XNUMXth century. I just can’t believe that the natives, whose entire clothes consisted of skirts made of grass, were able to think of such a wicker armor!
Close-up of the same armor
Well, as a comparison, this is a military shirt of the Kaina Indians. Also mid XNUMXth century.
And this is a real body armor that belonged to the Eskimos of Northern Alaska. Its exact dating is not available, but it is possible that it was made before 1700. Made from horn plates connected by tendons
For those interested in the theme of chivalry, this museum also has exhibits. True, the armor presented in it can only be called knightly at a stretch, although they are made of metal plates. That is, what they managed to get, they brought. And after all, few people will pay attention to the fact that they no longer refer to the Middle Ages, but to the New Age, which is usually counted either from 1492 (discovery of America by Columbus), or from other, close in time and no less important historical events. In any case, the armor here is all of the XNUMXth century, since it was in Europe that they were the most preserved. However, in this case, there is something to see here ...
For example, Italian field armor of the late XNUMXth century. Since they have an emphasis for a spear, then this, without a doubt, is the armor that belonged to a spearman
The same armor close-up. A very beautiful engraving speaks of the custom-made nature of their production. Massive protruding shoulder guards indicate that shields were no longer used at that time. So the gunsmiths tried to protect the spearmen as much as possible from a spear strike
Another slick set. Milanese armor 1580-1590 It is believed that they belonged to the Duke of Osuna. And you can only be surprised that you can see them in a museum whose main goal is to preserve the historical past of Western Canada!
Well, this is already well-known to all of us from publications on the history of the cuirassier, the so-called "three-quarter armor" (c. 1630), which belonged to some European cuirassier. The legguards are long and “puffy” to cover the knee-length breeches that were fashionable at that time, reminiscent of melons. A dent in the front of the cuirass is also striking. This is clearly a trace from a bullet, although it is not clear whether it is the result of participation in the battle, or whether we have before us a peculiar (and typical for that time) quality mark!
Tournament armor from Augsburg, XVI century. Helmet attributed as made by gunsmith Anton Peffenhauser
Two lovingly crafted dioramas depicting the production of armor in the XNUMXth century draw attention to the museum's exposition.
The first diorama presents a scene: the armor master shows the customer (and obviously a landsknecht!) a metal breastplate, while he is thinking whether to buy or not to buy
The second diorama shows us a master gunsmith at work on the pauldron of a typical Maximilian armor.
Very interesting cuirass from the armor of the late XNUMXth century. The image of the crucified Christ and the person praying for his protection suggests that its owner relied not only on the strength of its steel, but also dreamed of enlisting heavenly favor. Like, my humility and faith in you, oh Lord, needs reinforcement ...
The armor of the horseman of the Gorchurra (in Punjab, the riders of the irregular cavalry, who received a salary from the state), were called so. In fact, the well-known yushman is a hybrid of chain mail and wide metal plates to protect the abdomen and chest. Interestingly, the first mention of it in Rus' dates back to 1548! But in this case, this Indian armor belongs to the middle of the XNUMXth century.
And this is a Gorchurra helmet with two feather tubes.
The armor of the Moro people from the Philippines is very interesting. It is not dated, but it is clear that it consists of chain mail and horn plates.
Japanese armor always attracts attention - it's a real exotic. They are in the Glenbow Museum. Do-maru armor, XNUMXth century
Armor of the 1600th century The situation with Japanese armor, however, is exactly the same as with European armor. Up to a certain point "no", from a certain point - "is". As a rule, almost all Japanese armor exhibited in foreign museums is of the same time - from 1867 and later. There are simply no earlier ones. Rather, they are only in museums in Japan. But after XNUMX, foreigners sold armor in huge quantities, and they were made by everyone who was not lazy!
All armor is of the tosei gusoku type - "new armor". Among them are many samples of armor with one-piece forged cuirasses of hotoke-do.
Cuirass with the image of the deity Fudo-Myo-O. He sits in the middle of the fire and symbolizes invulnerability (Fudo in Japanese means "invulnerable"). It is believed that he appears in anger, defeats evil and does good for those who seek to achieve enlightenment and comprehend the wisdom of the Buddha.
Looking at the lapels of the fukigaeshi helmet and the “horns” of the kuwagata, one can determine which era the helmet belongs to. For example, this helmet belongs to the Kamakura period, but it was made in the XNUMXth century, although very well
Dragon helmet, reddish-brown rusted iron, work of the Myochin family
Samurai armor with the coat of arms of the Matsumae family. The work of the Miocin family
Helmet of the same armor with a dragon and huge kuwagata. Such "horns" were characteristic of the Nambokusho period - "enmity between two courts" (1333-1392), but it was made much later, in the XNUMXth century
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