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Back in Black : photos of a Journey to TRANSYLVANIAN MUSEUMS
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As some of you might now by now, last two weeks I left California to journey back into my whereabouts homeland, Romania, more precisely Transylvania.
I did not mean to do much of a cultural visit but you cant avoid that neither, old school museums and Old World fashioned architecture are everywhere so I choused two museums , one in Oradea ( Hung. Nagyvarad / Germ. Grosswardein ) and one in Timisoara ( Hung. Temeschwar / Germ. Temesvar ). They are the city museums not arms and armor oriented so they are not the most representative but it will do for now until a further visit to the military museums or the former royal chateaux. The main drawback in the museums of Romania remains the fact that you are forbidden to photograph exhibited artifacts in most museums as it was the case here which along with the fact I did not had a circular polarizing lens ( a ,,see trough glass window,, lens ) are the main factors that resulted into the almost disastrous pictures from inside as I was hiding my camera from any security guy and only some exhibit halls permitted that without risks. Both cities of Oradea and Timisoara, like most places in Transylvania, besides Romanian, they have a strong if not equal historical influence of local Hungarian ( Szekely or Secui ) and German ( Sashi or Sachsen ) nations. Worth mentioning is the Turkish interference (no Turk minority ever) but as the omnipresent enemy and at times the conqueror they left their marks in social or material culture (certain weapons, pipe and tobacco, coffee and others). As you will see plenty of Ottoman blades lurking around the Austro-Hungarian ones. As space permits I will do this photo-montage in two or more episodes due to the large number of photos. I hope you enjoy the architecture and statues too, I know I did ... Mare Rosu, since you don’t travel much these days but I am sure you miss seeing the world outside the Georgian shell, its for you my kind friend : |
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Ancient and medieval world
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more
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some more
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A morion and closeup detail
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Welcome back Radu
Thank you for sharing these images with us. You are very good photographer. In post 3 picture 3 there is a shamsir with a brass “eye” in the hilt. I had always a question about this feature. I think it is late 19th but never found a quote about it. For sure it is not medieval. What is very interesting is 2 photos below the shamshir with the brass scabbard. It looks very old and a kind of European. Also I love this Schiavona in the hands of battle suit. One of the most beautiful swords ever made. I wait for more pics :) |
Hi Radu,
Thanks for the photos. I love it very much!!! :D |
Radu, first of all thank you very much for sharing these pics with us. Specially because the enormous wealth of information regarding European Arms and Armour that is coming from the so-called eastern countries adds a lot of new perspectives to the academic studies on this subject. So, it's always extremely interesting to see new exemplars. In addition to the eye candy, of course... ;)
BTW, might I ask for some additional information, if available (hey, one has to have hope...) regarding the sword shown in Post 2 Picture 2, as well as the sword held by the armour shown in Post 4 Picture 5? Thanks again for everything. Marc |
Radu,
I was wondering what happened to you! Welcome back. You obviously had good time and (hopefully) got you fill of Tuica, mother's milk of any true descendant of ferocious Daci. Good to have you back. Ariel |
Welcome back
It's good to see you back, I was starting to worry what happened to you. While you were gone many interesting threads came out at this forum so there is many to read for you. One of them should be interesting for you ;) :D :
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=232 best regards! |
Yannis : nice to see you back too ... that shamshir was a rather XVIIth century as I vaguely remember ( I was unfortunatelly more concerned about stealing pictures than memorising data, poor me ... ).
And nothing to worry, there are more pictures comming ( and therefore more controversy) specially about the Ottoman ones ... Rasdan : youre welcome , there is more where this came from ! Marc : thank your for the kind words but unfortunatelly like I was telling Yannis, in that very limited time as I literally flu trough the museum I was imortalising eye candy and neglecting digesting or requesting supplementary info (wasnt very much anyhow, very brief descriptions as they were ,,generalist,, city museums) And just for that I will try to post close ups ... As far as I remember they were 16th century swords of Sachsen (local German descent minority known to us as ,,sasi,, read -sashee) nobles. Ariel : Hey Ariel with a high risk of disapointing you after seven years away from the ,,virtuos,, country of the Dacs I completelly lost touch with my inner Bacchus and almost fell stunned when I saw the tzuika/palinka quantities ingested by the locals. Nevertheless, papa , youll be proud seeing me drinking kegs of ,,lighter,, wine, smoking like a chimney and eating one piglet or a pheasant at the time out of plates you could snowboard with ... sorry if I ruined anyone`s appetite ... Wolviex : My dear brother in arms nice to see your well alive and thanks to your articles great Mother Poland shines back to the 17th century glitz. Very nice to hear from you and shortly will be back to normal in therms of communications ... as soon as I sober up , ahem , I mean adjust to the time zone :D ... |
Radu:
Glad to see you back. Stolen glimpses of the past. All very romantic and intriguing, evoking times of lost glory and hardship. Look forward to seeing more pictures. Thanks again for this unique insight into European arms and armor. Ian. |
I like the picture with the birds in the sky. Very romantic. And ooooh... wicked pole-axes... :)
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More pictures from Terra Transylvanis (Transylvania), Romania... Insights from the metropolitan Cathedral of Timisoara, statue of King and Saint Ladislaus, patron of Hungarians, in Oradea, the Baroque Palace of Oradea and statue of an early patron bishop with coat of arms. I always like to show different aspects of culture to better understand a nation you can just judge by its arms and armour (or maybe you can ... :rolleyes: ) ...
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some old gravures in theme from the Timisoara museum :
Defeat of the Ottomans Austro-Hungarian Empire monarch (XVIIIth century) Portrait of a local nobleman Punishment by impaling (admit it you were dying to see this one, after all it is Transylvania...) City of Timisoara coat of arms Portrait of Pavel Chinezul (Paul the Chinaman) XVth century Count of Timisoara, a epic proportions fierce hero that fought the Turks with legendary deeds, a man of remarkable body and spiritual strength... |
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One more portrait of Pavel Chinezul and then were back in bussiness with mainly but not only Ottoman weaponry :
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continuation...
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Mixed firepower, fokosh/toporishca/baltag (peasant or shepherd`s axe, working and battle instrument, machismo object and dispute settler, every folksmen that owned a pair of testies owned one of these too, even my granpa, until 1950s) an Ottoman Jambyia XVIIth century, a Transylvanian buzdugan mace . ...
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and more local and mixed weapons...
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last but not least some stuff and of course one more portrait of Paul the Chinaman (Pavel Chinezul)
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Thanks for sharing. For someone stealing pictures you did amazingli well, Radu. Are there more Dacian and early Medieval weapons? I just want to compare them to Thracian and early Medieval finds in Bulgaria.
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Timisoara. The last province in Hungary Ottomans lost, or the first province they lost in Romania from another point of view. And the reverse for the chronology of conquering. I loved the 1st picture especially.Imagine stimulating. Transilvanya. Vlad Dracul's land and foggy atmoshphere, historical building and birds. or.. can be bats?? :)
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As always your skills with a camera are simply breath taking. Thanks for sharing.
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Radu, bun venit spate prietenul meu. ;)
Great photos, thanks for sharing! Do you have any information on that short sword with the flamboyant blade? Ceremonial? |
Like others, I was for a while wondering where Radu was and here we are another superb presentation. The pictures took ages for my slow PC to download but the visual tour was well worth it. And Romania, the birthplace of my favourite all time female athlete Nadia Comaneci...
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Welcome back, Radu!!! It looks like you had a good time during your absence. Thanks for sharing those pics and giving us a glimpse of your homeland. Those pics are great!!!
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