Festive Opening Weekend !
29-30 October 2022
Attention: please do not bring weapons to the museum!
Take a weekend break in the Middle Ages
Enjoy exceptional reduced admission fees:
• Festive weekend with animations and re-enactment,
• Access to our brand-new Arms and Armour Gallery,
• Incredible view over Brussels from the Cinquantenaire Arcades,
• Access to all Royal Military Museum galleries,
• And many other surprises…
On 27 October 2022 the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and of Military History will reopen its renovated Arms and Armour Gallery. The entire gallery will then be fully accessible to the public for the first time since 2010. This festive opening takes place exactly 35 years minus one day after the gallery’s initial inauguration in 1987.
Practical information
Reduced Admission
- 7.5€ for adults
- 2.5€ for children under 18
These tickets will give access to the new Arms and Armour Gallery, to the re-enactors throughout the Museum, to the unique view over Brussels from the top of the Arcades, and, of course, to all Museum galleries!
Adapted schedules
- Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm
- Sunday from 10am to 5pm
Book your tickets here
© Licorne-Tricorne
© Societas Angliciis
© Francs compaings
© Societas Angliciis
An immersive experience
The weekend promises to be quite spectacular, as a variety of workshops and animations take over the entire Museum! The program:
• Living history and training of young riders;
• Workshops: calligraphy, medicine, cooking, coins, etc.;
• Animations: music, dancing, patrols, combat, etc.;
• Demonstrations of and initiations in historic martial arts;
• Didactic booths: archery, blacksmithing, gunning, etc.;
• So many other activities to enjoy…
Come and celebrate with us!
Food and drink, songs, music and dance, weaponry and hunting, crafts... come and see for yourself how our ancestors lived, both in wartime and in times of peace.
Young and old alike will be sure to have plenty to see and do during the weekend: demonstrations of medieval weapons (from bows and crossbows over swords and armour to… medieval cannons!), battles, food stands, a real smithy and a coin maker’s shop, medieval dancers and music, a barber and surgeon, the famous cathedral builders...
The collection’s absolute top pieces
Child’s armour, Augsburg, 1565. Inventory number 13929.
Carolingian sword, a.k.a. Viking sword, Northwest Europe, 750-850 A.D., archaeological find in Dendermonde. Inventory number 12420.
Shaffron and neck lame, parts of an armour for horses, Germany, 3rd quarter of the 16th century. Inventory number 10205.
Reinforced tournament armour, attributed to Philip II, 1560, made by Wolfgang Grosschedel (ca. 1517-1562), Landshut (Duchy of Bavaria). Inventory number 10024.
The main attraction will of course be the refurbished gallery, where the collection’s absolute top pieces will be on display in all their glory.
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Child’s armour, Augsburg, 1565. Inventory number 13929. | This child’s armour was manufactured by the famous armourer Anton Pfeffenhauser, active in Augsburg between 1545 and 1603. He worked for numerous crowned heads of the era. This three-quarter-length armour (reaching to the knee) was realized for a boy aged 5 or 6. Click here to read more
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Carolingian sword, a.k.a. Viking sword, Northwest Europe, 750-850 A.D., archaeological find in Dendermonde. Inventory number 12420. | Swords such as this one are produced throughout the Frankish Empire during the Carolingian period (800 to 1000 A.D.). It is also called the “Viking sword”, as many of them are found in Scandinavian graves. Click here to read more
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Shaffron and neck lame, parts of an armour for horses, Germany, 3rd quarter of the 16th century. Inventory number 10205. | The shaffron is the result of an evolution leading up to barding as practised around 1400. At that point in time, the horse’s armour closely resembles that of the rider, but is much heavier to wear and more expensive to produce. The shaffron, usually consisting of one or two pieces, is designed to protect the most vulnerable parts of the horse’s head, especially the eyes and the nose. Click here to read more
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Reinforced tournament armour, attributed to Philip II, 1560, made by Wolfgang Grosschedel (ca. 1517-1562), Landshut (Duchy of Bavaria). Inventory number 10024. | This famous armour is said to have belonged to the Habsburg king Philip II. It was made under the supervision of Wolfgang Grosschedel, a famous Bavarian armourer active between 1517 and 1562, who also produced other pieces for the Spanish monarch. Click here to read more
