17th to 19th century arms and maritime antiques
The small town of Fredericksværk in northern Sjælland, Denmark, was home to a substantial cannon foundry during the age of front-loading cannon. Between 1756 and 1833, an estimated 2.500 cannon were cast for the Danish military, but also for export.
High above the artificial Eder-Lake in Hessia sits Schloss Waldeck, a castle that dates back to the 12th century. On the terrace are two unusual cannon on display.
The fortress towering over the little Cretan town of Rethymno is a strange place. Built by the Venetians at the end of the 16th century to protect the town and its inhabitants from Ottoman invaders, it proved ineffective for this purpose in 1646, when it was taken after a short siege. The Ottomans demolished the church and built a mosque in its place.
Continue reading “Derelict cannon at the Fortezza of Rethymno”
Malta’s capital Valetta is as much a town as it is a fortress and this armoury has the matching tools.
The Danish Navy frigate Jylland was built in 1860. As a wooden ship with front-loading cannon, her design was already outdated at that time. She still saw action in 1864, in the war against Germany.
Since 1994, she sits in a dry dock in the small town Ebeltoft and serves as a museum.
Every day at 12.00, one of the 24lbs. cannon is fired.
In relation to size, Malta is probably the most fortified land in the world. The armed conflicts this tiny nation was in involved in are epic and so it is fitting that the harbour of the capital Valletta is flanked with two huge forts. On the north side there is a battery of British 19th century front-loading guns, one of which is fired every day at high noon. Even though the country gained political independence from the United Kingdom in 1964, the action here is carried out by reenactors posing as British colonial soldiers.
When I visited Burma in 2012, there was little international tourism in Mandalay. The town does not offer a lot spectacular sites compared to other places in the country, so many visitors use it as a stop-over at most. Therefore the museum located in the middle of an ancient but still used garrison caters mostly to a local audience.