Salzburg Defense History Museum

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Austrian cuirassiers around 1800
Austrian hussars around 1780
Mocking cloth on Napoleon (men's handkerchief) brought onto the market by the English around 1812
Austrian muzzle loading cannon around 1750 (copy)
SWGM commemorative plaque kuk Feldhaubitzenregiment 15

The Salzburger Wehrgeschichtliches Museum (SWGM) in the Schwarzenberg barracks in Wals-Siezenheim offers an intensive insight into two thousand years of military history from all historically significant epochs through many exhibits and information. In addition to uniforms , items of equipment, medals and decorations , there are above all weapons and ammunition .

Museum and exhibitions

Own exhibitions

It begins with the gladius of a Roman legionnaire and goes through various old edged weapons , flintlock pistols and rifles to the weapons of the First World War and the present.

Further subject areas of the museum concern the Austrian Armed Forces including the current peacekeeping measures based on UN resolutions, the military history of Salzburg under the Prince Archbishops, the military in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and the Armed Forces in the First Republic . For this purpose, everything that has to do with it is collected, presented and documented: books, pictures, uniforms, old and new weapons, maps, ammunition, regulations, large equipment such as tanks , cannons and vehicles, media, equipment, documents and much more - all in all well over 11,000 objects. In the outdoor area you can see large equipment of the armed forces from the past decades.

There are also many other exhibits on display. Among them are rare documents such as the Trachtenberg war plan of the Austrian Chief of Staff Josef Graf Radetzky , an absolute rarity from a military-historical point of view.

Special exhibitions are shown alternately (excerpt):

External exhibitions

In addition to its own exhibition, the SWGM has participated in various exhibitions, such as B. at

  • "Salzburg 1945 to 1955: Destruction and Reconstruction" ( Museum Carolino Augusteum , 1995),
  • "40 years of the armed forces - from the parade ground to use in 1956" (1996),
  • "The forgotten battle in 1800 : a major military event at the gates of Salzburg" (2000),
  • "The Salzburg military then and now - military affairs from the prince-archbishopric to the present" (2004),
  • "1809 - Napoleon's army in front of Salzburg - The difficult road from the prince-archbishopric to the crown land" (2009),
  • "Austria and the Battle of the Nations of Leipzig 1813" (2013 together with the Museum Torhaus Markkleeberg ),
  • “Salzburg Soldiers' Fate in the First World War” (2014/15 in the Bachschmiede ).

research

The SWGM supports other institutions such as universities, schools, museums and projects in the Salzburg region with the publication of its own research results, technical contributions in writing or in the form of lectures. The collaboration of the well-networked members in relevant military science publications is also highly recognized at home and abroad. The supervision of students in their scientific work complements this activity.

collection

The collection is the centerpiece and makes the exhibits available to the museum and research. In addition, the SWGM collects, sifts, organizes, evaluates, documents and stores value-preserving for future generations.

This extensive collection also includes old pictures and prints, maps and unique photographs, as well as a library that is also accessible and usable for science and the public.

Club and club history

The Salzburg Military History Museum is supported by a private museum association founded in 1992. All employees work on a voluntary basis. Only the museum rooms are made available by the Republic of Austria. The SWGM is on the list of beneficiary institutions with registration number MP-10580, with which donations to the museum can be claimed for tax purposes.

The full name of the association is Defense History Research - Salzburg Defense History Museum . In pursuit of this second area of ​​responsibility, association members have published numerous publications on military history.

The founding of the museum association for the SWGM was suggested by the then military commander of Salzburg, Major General Engelbert Lagler . From 1996 to 2014 the museum with exhibition and archive rooms was housed in the former Riedenburg barracks in Salzburg . After the closure of the Riedenburg barracks, the SWGM moved to the Schwarzenberg barracks . Colonel Kurt A. Mitterer has been running the museum since 2003.

literature

  • 2000 years of military history - from the Romans to the 21st century. Museum flyer 2015.
  • Kurt Mitterer: The Defense History Museum in Salzburg. In: Bastei - Magazin des Stadtverein Salzburg , Spring 2012, p. 24.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Military history publications on the website of the Military History Museum, accessed on January 26, 2017

Coordinates: 47 ° 47 '52 "  N , 12 ° 58' 57.5"  E