In the middle of downtown Copenhagen is the Tojhusmuseet or Armament Museum. This museum has the reputation of having one of the finest collections of 18th and 19th centuries cannons and guns in the world. The reputation is very well deserved. In what was the national armory, there are rows upon rows of cannons dating back to the first use of gunpowder in Europe. The examples are astounding and in many cases the original paint colors are visible. The collection is in no way limited to Danish arms, in fact the vast majority of arms come from outside Denmark. The ground floor consists of all the cannon on display. Included in this collection is a British 6 pdr. cannon from the Napoleonic wars. If the place is not too busy you can carefully examine the areas that have not been exposed to the elements and settle for yourself once and for all what color the British actually painted their guns. On the second floor is the armes blanche and the individual firearms. This is reputed to be the finest in the world, and I can agree the I have never seen its equal. The collection is laid out in a manner that I found most wonderful. It is displayed in the order of technological advance. This means that you can see how one country made improvements years before others. Though this is not normally my main field of interest, the way in which it was displayed allowed me to easily follow the progress of this deadly science. The top floor covers the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries as well as special exhibits. This again is not limited strictly to Denmark and gives a good overview of the events covered. There is a magnificent collection of uniforms that are currently being cleaned, but will be back on display in the middle of 1994. This is reputed to be one of the best multi- national uniform collections in the world. Copenhagen the City Copenhagen is a charming city and well worth a visit on its own merits, but for the military historian it has some must see stops. These include the forts built to protect the city some dating back to the Renaissance. Two forts in particular protect the harbor and participated in the battle of Copenhagen in 1803, in which Nelson and the British fleet sunk the previously neutral Danish fleet, to prevent it from falling into French hands. But the gem of all these is the Tojhusmuseet and it is well worth making a detour to see. Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 2 No. 4 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1994 by Emperor's Headquarters This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com