Military Collection

The armament is one of the oldest types of objects found in the Malbork castle. In the Middle Ages, they were produced on site in a smithy, bell foundry and woodcarving, while they were stored in several armories. The creation of the military collection began at the beginning of the 19th century with the romantic restoration of the castle and the first donations of ancient weapons. Its development took place at the end of the 19th century during a scientistic restoration, when it was decided to collect weapons in the castle for decorative purposes. In 1892, Theodor Blell’s collection of almost 1,500 pieces of weapons was purchased. Until the outbreak of World War II, there were almost 2,000 weapons in the castle walls from ancient times to the first half of the 20th century. The destruction of 1945 led to the dispersion of this collection, but with the establishment of the Castle Museum in Malbork in 1961, its reconstruction began. Today, it has almost 1,000 objects from Europe and the Middle East, dating from the 11th to the 19th century, arranged in two collections – at the castle in Malbork (813 exhibits) and at the castle in Kwidzyn (182 exhibits). Among them there are such unique items as inlaid, medieval swords from the 14th century, the barrel of the Teutonic troop with the image of Mary, or the officer broadsword of the Polish-Saxon guard from the second quarter of the 18th century.