Armory Solothurn

Hello dear collector friends, on our last short trip we started in beautiful Switzerland. There are still many historical treasures to be discovered in this country. Since there was no damage from British and American bombing raids in World War II, there are also many old towns, castles, palaces and other historical buildings 100% preserved. An absolute tip from us is the old town of Solothurn in the canton of the same name. Solothurn has a well-preserved old town with buildings from the late Gothic, Renaissance and early high baroque periods. The old town is partly still surrounded by a preserved medieval city wall and gate systems. Such old towns are an absolute dream for us as fans of the Middle Ages and castle friends! Our recommendation is the “old armory” museum in the old town. The building dates from 1609 and is still very well preserved. Unfortunately, a renovation / modernization took place in recent years. In our opinion, in contrast to the Zeughaus in Graz / Austria, the character of the Zeughaus Solothurn was massively and very negatively changed or completely destroyed by the renovation / expansion! The real armory became a museum! How boring! Those responsible should really ask themselves whether this measure was necessary. One of our collectors was in the Solothurn arsenal 10 years ago and at that time the real and original character was still completely preserved. He told us how it used to look in the armory and was shocked and sad! However, there are still some cannons, artillery pieces, polearms, swords, rapiers, sabers, firearms and, above all, over 200 pieces of armor and armor to see. The armor stands free and is not displayed behind bulletproof glass. This allows you to get very close to the objects and look at everything closely. That's a really big plus. On the first floor there is also the well-known group of figures with the historically recreated scene "Assembly of Niklaus von Flüe". The figures wear armor and weapons in a historicist manner. This means that in some places the combinations of armor, helmets and weapons do not match in style. The group of figures was put together in the 19th century according to historical ideas. Even so, the harnesses, helmets and weapons shown are original pieces. A group of figures stands out in the exhibition, imitating the Stans daily statute, where Niklaus von Flüe settled the dispute between urban and rural cantons in 1481, which ultimately led to the admission of Freiburg and Solothurn to the federal alliance. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_Altes_Zeughaus_Solothurn Nevertheless, the museum is highly recommended for collectors and fans of historical weapons and military history, because it contains very beautiful exhibits. You should definitely take at least 2-3 hours. Have lots of fun with it!

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