Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Wien

-
aka the Vienna Military Museum, as probably everybody (bar fluent German speakers) can't pronounce Heeresgeschichtliches.

Please note: the Heeresgeschichtliches is currently undergoing a major refurbishment, and unfortunately the Thirty Years War gallery is closed until later this year (2026). There are a handful of C17th exhibits on display in a temporary gallery.

The following pictures date from when I visited Vienna in August 2016, which if you have never been I can heartily recommend the city. But take ear plugs, after a couple of days you really do get sick of hearing Strauss's 'Blue Danube'.

If visiting might I suggest looking at buying a Vienna Pass which allows entry into most of the major attractions and gives unlimited trips on the City Sight Seeing tour buses.

The military museum is one of the stops on one of the Sightseeing routes. Housed in a very impressive arsenal on the edge of the city, this really is one of the best military museums I have visited (certainly on a par with Les Invalides in my opinion). Impressive collections of WW1 Eastern Front, WW2, Napoleonic, Soviet armour and an excellent Thirty Years War Gallery. Here's one of my pictures of a cuirassier suit of armour to wet your appetite.




If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider supporting the blog. 
Thanks.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Civil War Lego

-
Image
Yes, you read that title correctly. English Civil War Lego . The good people at the Cromwell Museum have teamed up with United Bricks to create a small range of Civil War figures. As it was the Cromwell Museum who initiated the project, it will come as no surprise that Old Knoll has been created as a minifigure. Old Knoll and his hat. In case you are wondering, the blutack keeps him in place on top of my monitor  On the grounds of impartiality, Charles I has also been created. As it is Lego you can easily recreate his beheading without all the gore and mess.  As Château KeepYourPowderDry has familial links to the Parliamentarian cause, I don't own his minifig. There are a number of soldiers in the range: a musketeer, a pikeman and a pair of harquebusiers.  There's also an officer, Samuel Pepys, and Matthew Hopkins the self-styled Witchfinder General, a very foppish looking Rupert, complete with his trusty Boye, and the latest release Elizabeth Cromwell. The museum sold ou...
Read more

Photography Part Two: Museums

-
Image
Regular readers of the ECW Travelogue will know that I often have to apologise for poor quality photographs taken in museums. Normally this would be down to operator error (i.e. my incompetence) but on these occasions it isn't: it is down to museums becoming light airy public spaces. Great for the building ambience and visitor experience, awful for taking pictures. But I may have found a solution (discovered at the Birmingham photography show, just like the Foldio studio). Just as my original photography post showcased a cheap, simple solution for taking photographs of miniatures; so this post will showcase a cheap, simple solution for eliminating light reflection in museums. In use at home on a glass cabinet door - even I draw the line at taking a picture of myself using this in public. It is called an Ultimate Lens Hood or ULH for short. They come in three sizes, and a special version for mobile phones; I've got the 'Go' model, or medium sized one (£20) w...
Read more

Some More Parliamentarian Command

-
Image
Those tempted to purchase from Naismith should check the status of the company on internet forums, as service can be sporadic at times. The Naismith-Roundway website has gone, and the domain is available to purchase.  Sadly, it does now look like Naismith have disappeared. However a limited stock of Naismith ECW can be found in stock at  KeepWargaming  (no limbers I'm afraid, as I've just bought the last packs). They do have the personality packs listed as in stock. In the interests of balance, here's some more Parliamentarian commanders. Like their Royalist counterparts these are also Naismith sculpts. My observations from the Royalist personality pack stands for these too - beautiful sculpts but they do lack an element in size consistency (in this case heft). These, like the Royalist Naismith commanders, have been mounted upon replacement horses. Rather than being representative of Essex, Fairfax and Cromwell these figures have been painted to represent Major Gener...
Read more

Lord Spencer’s Regiment of Horse

-
Image
Henry Spencer fought at Edgehill and was rewarded for his services (the £3000 he gave to the King was purely a coincidence) by being made 1st Earl of Sunderland (and in case you are wondering, yes he was a forebear of a certain Lady Diana). Lord Spencer's was part of the King's Oxford Army. Formed in 1643 they fought at Bristol, Cirencester (where they suffered very heavy losses, some sources suggest they were completely captured), and First Newbury where Lord Spencer was killed by a cannonball. The Regiment continued as Spencer's Regiment of Horse fighting at Lostwithiel, Second Newbury, Donnington, Langport, Torrington before surrendering at Truro in 1646. The Regiment was raised anew by Colonel Thomas Colepepper (who had previously been the Lieutenant Colonel of Spencer's, so presumably he became the Colonel on Spencer's death) in 1648 where they were involved in the events at Colchester. I have chosen them to carry Colepepper's cornet - bears...
Read more

Personal Standards

-
Image
No, I'm not talking about washing your hands on a regular basis, or standing up to meet people, or using personal hygiene products (surely those are all a given? although attending a wargames convention might suggest otherwise) - I'm pontificating on the oft asked question on wargaming forums... Did commanders have personal standards? TL;DR answer 'no'. Here's a slightly less succinct answer. But first a note: Peachey and Prince wrote  the seminal 'ECW Flags and Colours 1: English Foot' in 1991, this was planned to be the first in a series of booklets.  Looking through the current Partizan catalogue would suggest that book 2 exists and covers the Scots, and book 3 the regiments of horse. However, books 2 and 3 are not the books planned by Peachey and Prince. Some of their notes and illustrations for the planned books appear in a number of other works, the most easily accessible are the Forlorn Hope Guides. The Royals...  We know that Charles raised the Royal...
Read more

Fanny Lye Deliver'd

-
Image
The story of the Civil Wars is a story of two men, Cromwell and King Charles, butting heads over how the three kingdoms should be governed. A rather simplistic and stylised (not to mention inaccurate) view, but a view that seems to dominate our history books, and national consciousness. But what of the lives of the others who gave and suffered so much during the turmoil? Civil War petitions give us an insight, as do household records such as Lady Fanshawe's Receipt Book. The 'lot' of women rarely taking centre stage in our view into seventeenth century Britain, but that changes with the latest film that is set in 'our' period, albeit a slightly strange cinematic offering. Fanny Lye Deliver'd has much in common with earlier films set during the period: it was beset with financial issues and nearly didn't get released (as did To Kill a King), ventures into magic mushroom use (A Field in England), and features a strange group of radical thinkers (Winstan...
Read more

Even More Royalist Commanders

-
Image
Three more Royalist commanders, these were part of the package of figures that were listed as in absentia for a goodly while. First up Sir Ralph, Lord Hopton . My first use of my new russetted armour paint recipe. I hope that you have noticed that I've tried to give him the correct colour hair (according to his portraits), otherwise all that effort will be for nought. Regular readers (hello both of you) will know that we have already met Sir Ralph here on KeepYourPowderDry before: his story epitomises the notion of 'England tore asunder' as his opponent in battle was invariably his good friend Sir William Waller.  As a 21 year old Hopton undertook the C17th equivalent of a gap year, but instead of travelling to 'find himself' his goal was to 'learn languages'. Finding himself caught up in the Thirty Years War he joined a volunteer English force fighting for Frederick of the Palatinate (whose sons Rupert and Maurice we know quite well). He, and his good frien...
Read more

What Colours To Use?

-
Image
The mental images we have of seventeenth century dress are invariably of a dashing cavalier, wearing extravagant clothing and an ostentatious feather in a broad-brimmed hat; or a dour Puritan dressed in black and white. A heavily stylised, but very enduring set of images created by the Victorians. But what was the reality? Some clothing from the time still exists, although this will, by the very nature of things, have belonged to rich owners. It has been suggested too, that due to interest in the civil wars, that these surviving garments have been fancydress-ified by the Victorians to achieve the romantic nature of dashing cavaliers and their ladies. Thanks to rising temperatures the C17th and C18th graveyard at Spitsbergen is giving up its inhabitants - whalers buried in their clothes. Many of these remarkable garments are on display at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (they also have the fantastic Night Watch painting). If you can't just pop into Amsterdam you can see some high res...
Read more

Scots Command

-
Image
Regular readers (hello both of you) will know that I am always on the lookout for suitable commanders to augment my armies.  This time my attention turned to Naismith whose figures match nicely heightwise with PP. Naismith horses are a little 'esoteric' so they were ditched and replacement PP horses sourced. All these figures come from just two packs - the Montrose character pack (EC14 Montrose, Leslie and Dundee), and the EC06 mounted Scots officer pack. Those tempted to purchase from Naismith should check the status of the company on internet forums, as service can be sporadic at times. As of 03/01/2021 the Naismith-Roundway website has gone, and the domain is available to purchase. I fear that these ranges may now have disappeared. Update April 2021: sadly, it does indeed look like Naismith have disappeared. However a limited stock of Naismith ECW can be found in stock at KeepWargaming (no limbers I'm afraid, as I've just bought the last packs). They do have the per...
Read more

Sir Gervase Lucas’ Regiment of Horse

-
Image
The Royalist Regiment of Horse that garrisoned Belvoir* Castle in Leicestershire: Belvoir Castle was strategically important - protecting the route from Oxford to Newark. Their battle honours, with a few exceptions, are small skirmishes close to the Castle: Ancaster Heath, Battle of Grantham, Melton Mowbray, Sproxton Heath, Cotes Bridge, Newark, Denton, Kirby Bellars, besieged at Belvoir Castle - surrendering after four months. Sir Gervase lost much of his wealth over the course of the wars, so much that he was willing to accept the post of Governor of Bombay at the Restoration, dying in the city in 1667. Brushwork on these by Alan Tuckey, basing by my own fair hand. * in case you are wondering, it is pronounced 'beaver' If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider  supporting  the blog.  Thanks .
Read more