When in Toronto, do not miss the Royal Ontario Museum
 

Below are snapshots of the display of the four Viking Age swords in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto (Ontario, Canada) as well as a portion of their collection of European medieval swords, including the four examples (yellow arrows) once in the Alexandria arsenal.

The European arms and armour gallery is not large, but it does include a number of very nice things and the museum has extensive world cultures displays including numerous examples of ethnographic arms and armour in addition to natural history exhibits.

Avoid regrets - plan on spending a full day there...

Thank you for posting these, Lee!

Do you also have some snapshots of 15th to 17th century firearms there (haquebuts, match- and wheel-locks)?

Michael

Unfortunately, I was relying on the rapidly diminishing space on a friend's camera and so I only got the snapshots of these swords.

I hope to return there for another visit soon - I had only a three hour window and that meant that I left most of the exhibits unseen.

I'll try to take pics some time this week. The ROM is right by my university. It had an impressive collection of European armours and weapons on display a few years ago...I haven't seen it since the museum's renovation.

Emanuel

Please do remember me and my interests in 14th-17th c. swords, Gothic crossbows and 14th-17th c. firearms and accouterments when you get there, Manolo/Emanuel - thanks a lot!!! ;) ;) ;)

Michael

P.S. Ain't I just too meek, humble and modest?! :rolleyes: :cool: :eek:

I'll see what I can do :)

Emanuel (real name) (manolo is just a handle)

Hello Gents,

Went by the ROM yesterday and took some pics. The European arms and armour collection seems considerably smaller than I remember it. Same goes for what's grouped together as middle-eastern. A lot of money went into a much-publicized expansion of the museum, supposedly to accomodate the ROM's vast holdings that never see the light of daya nd rot/rust away in the vaults. Unfortunately, the goals were not met IMO. What is on exhibit is top quality, but there's little of it. You can't get much sense of variety. What the ROM is good at is showing a wide snapshot of cultures, including at least one example from most aspects of material culture.

That said, here are some goodies...not much mediaeval I'm afraid :shrug:

Emanuel

V2

V3

That was essentially it for the European collection. There used to be a fairly large collection of pistols and guns, but it's gone now.

The rest of the pics show a nice collection of African, Indian and Persian (misc Middle-Eastern) items. Lots of gold, jade, rock crystal and wootz!

Some really nice clubs too, the Fijian and Papuan ones are HUGE :D

V4

Last set

That was essentially it for arms and armour. I didn't take pictures of all other ethnographic items, but as Lee said, the museum does deserve a full day visit. It is quite strong in the natural history department, as well as Asian and Mediterranean cultures, particularly BA Greco-Roman. Writing this I realize I didn't take pictures of the Chinese and Japanese exhibits, which do include some very good suits of armour, and a good range of swords and pole-arms.

I have a contact at the museum, and I will see about getting access to the stuff in the vaults.

Emanuel

--here is a parting shot of the ROM --

Manolo. those are magnificent, thank you very much for sharing!

Manolo fantastic pictures - this could be a sticky!