Arms and armour |13th – 17th century
The department of From Saint Louis to Louis XIV, antique weapons and armour, has one of Europe's biggest collections of arms and armour covering military history from the 13th to 17th century.
Princes, knights and warriors...
This collection, which also includes some notable archaeological finds, charts the development of military equipment from the 13th to 17th centuries. It shows the place of weapons and armour in Europe, in the life of royal courts, aristocratic societies and even cities in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
...from the Crusades to the Thirty Years War
The exhibition includes a chronological section enabling visitors to learn about the history of the French Armies, their great men and their equipment, from Saint Louis to the death of Louis XIII.
Weapons for war... and for pleasure
Themed rooms, some located in the historic settings of the Hôtel des Invalides, are devoted to prestigious groups of exhibits, like the French royal collections or the great European armoury workshops. There are also areas about hunting, jousting and tournaments, shooting, luxury gunsmithery and artillery.
Visitors can see the full extent of the whole collection by taking a look at the bays of the Arsenal, the department's visible storeroom.
Oriental treasures at the Musée de l'Armée
Lastly, a number of small cabinets reveal some treasures from the Musée de l'Armée's extra-European collections: diplomatic gifts from the Ottoman Empire to the French monarchy, Turkish warriors' equipment, Indian, Japanese and Chinese weapons and armour, and more.