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Weapons collections

Maihaugen has one of the country's biggest and best weapons collections. In the collection there are weapons back to 1500, as the world's oldest revolver from 1597, and other weapons right up to our own time.

There are 1,144 objects in weapons collection. Here are weapons used in war and hunting, and weapons used by the nobility, military officers, town citizens, farmers, postal officers and soldiers.  

The entire weapons collection is available on the web: www.primusweb.no

The world's oldest revolver

Guns with single shots is known from the early 1500's. They were made with wheellock mechanism for the ignition of the powder and firing of the bullet. Leonadardo Da Vinci is seen as the inventor of the wheellock mechanism in 1507.

The world's oldest revolver was made in 1597 by a weapon produser named Hans Stopler in Nüremberg Germany. The firing mechanism is a type of flintlock and the barrel holds up to 8 shots.

The worlds oldest revolver from 1597. Photo: Camilla Damgård/Maihaugen

Weapons collection how it was exhibited in 1914. Photo: unknown/Maihaugen

Pistols and revolvers

Pistols comes from the Czech word pistal which means pipes. Gunpowder weapons is a fairly modern invention. Gunpowder was invented already in the 9th Century in China, but gunpowder weapons was not adopted in Europe until the 1400s.

Swords

Swords constitutes the majority of weapons in Maihaugens weapons collection. In the collection there are swords that have belonged to farmers, citizens of towns, officials, officers, soldiers and lords.

Axes

Axes was in use already in the Stone Age, and in the time of the Vikings axes was a standard weapon. In the collection there are over 70 so-called farmers weapon axes from the period 1600 to 1750.