A unique reminder of anti-Turkish fighting

Herrengasse 16
A-8010 Graz, Austria
tel.: +43-0316-7031/2778

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When you hear about anti-Turkish fighting in the 14th - 19th centuries, some of these events will probably come into your mind: the battle of Kossovopolje (1389), the battle of Mohács (1526) or the two sieges of Vienna in 1529 and 1683. Some people may also remember anti-Turkish uprising in the Balkans, and occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austro-Hungarian armies in 1878. The ones who paid attention in school will be able to recall the fact that “the bad Hapsburgs“ always wanted money and soldiers against the Turks from the Czech lands. If they had not raised the money, we might have a minaret at Prague Castle and polygamy might be legally allowed.

The inhabitants of Syria, which is very close to the areas of anti-Turkish battle sites, bore the brunt of the wars to a greater extent, although we may not be aware of it. Turkish raids on Styria began as early as 1471, and in 1480 when the country was unprepared, it was completely plundered. In the same year the Styrian estates adopted an agreement, according to which the nobility (secular as well as religious) should have a trained horseman ready to protect the country for every hundred florins received from their serfs. The same system was used to gear up three riflemen or foot mercenaries.

In the event of immediate danger, the country made up light infantry of peasant militia. The weapons and equipment were stored by the Styrian estates in Graz, ready to be used instantly. Even estate owners could borrow it from there.

Maximilian I, the Holy Roman emperor (1493-1519), also supported his countries‘ state of preparation. He encouraged domestic manufacture of cannons and harquebuses as well as plating workshops in Graz. Unique harquebuses, roughly ironbound, with two barrels, and fluted armor called Maximilian (in the emperor’s honor) are still preserved there.

Ferdinand I also watched over the defense of Styria. The weapons were at that time stored in the rooms of the old Landhaus (Provincial House) and in the entrances to the city. The first well-preserved stock dates back to 1557. Ammunition, firearms and objects needed to protect the fortified places made up most of 19,400 items.

The composition of the armory changed under the reign of the Duke Charles II, who ruled over Styria, Carinthia, Carnolia (Slovenia), Istria, Trieste, Gorizia and parts of Friaul. His countries then bordered directly on the area occupied by the Turks. Charles’s brother, the emperor Maximilian II, who ruled in Upper and Lower Austria, Bohemia and Hungary, paid most of his attention to the defense of Hungary. For this reason he had no time or resources left to protect Charles’s countries. A system of fortification was formed between the Drava and the coast of the Adriatic Sea and therefore the area bordering closely on Turkey was called the military boundary. Graz was the rear of the area. The Styrian estates bought thousands of cuirasses, helmets, guns, pistols and their accessories in Augsburg and Nuremberg in 1578 to equip the garrisons of the forts. Blades were brought from Passau, and halberds and lances from Upper Austria. Local tradesmen received a large order as well. As a result a vast stock of arms and armor for the border strategic points was gathered in Graz.

The existing storage spaces were not large enough to hold the huge collections. Therefore the attic of Landhaus (finished in 1565) was adapted to contain a part of the assortment. However, the new spaces were soon cluttered, and the weapons lay there in utter chaos. It was necessary to build a genuine armory. On that account the estates bought a building adjoining Landhaus, pulled it down, and had a new built, which has stood there up to the present. It was finished in 1645. The military material could then be arranged on five stories, 52.5 meters long and 11.5 meters wide. Cannons and wagons were placed on the first floor, and the rest on the remaining four floors. The weapons were used and new ones were added until the War of the Austrian Succession.

In 1749 Maria Theresa decided within the bounds of a military reform and centralization to take the armory away from the Styrian estates because the armies were to be equipped with arms from Vienna. The Styrian estates, however, succeeded in changing the decision. The armory was a symbol of great privations of their country, and tremendous financial as well as human sacrifices, when they struggled to set it up and maintain throughout the wars with Turkey. Consequently the armory was left in possession of the estates, but they had to look after it.

This was how the armory became a museum. The practical arrangement of a warehouse was turned into a artistic one in the spirit of the late Baroque style - columns and pyramids made of guns, trophies put together from helmets, parts of armor, sabers, palash, lances and halberds. Imperial eagle compiled from pistols obviously had to be present. The lances were shortened to approximately 2 meters. During Napoleon’s invasion in 1797 most of the cannons were transported to Novi Sad and sold there.

In 1840 someone came with an idea to enlarge the windows and make only two large halls instead of four floors in order for the “artistically” arranged weapons to stand out. The reconstruction should have been financed by selling “expendable” weapons. Fortunately, common sense won and everything stayed the same.

Before 1882 the decorative arrangement of the armory was eliminated and everything returned to the original system. The collection was made open to the public again in 1882. It then contained 32,000 items. After World War I another attempt to sell out the exhibits was prevented. At the beginning of massive air raids during World War II the objects were taken to the country, and were brought back to Graz in late summer 1945.

These days the provincial armory, or Steirmarkische landeszeughaus, is a part of the municipal museum Joanneum. It ranks among the most visited.