The Royal Armories is England’s official museum of armor and weapons, with three locations in England and a satellite branch in the US. The collection includes weapons dating back to ancient times, armor and weapons used in British history, and weapons-related prints and manuals. The Leeds branch houses over 8,500 items, while the London branch is located in the Tower of London. The Fort Nelson branch displays historic artillery, and the US branch is located in Louisville, Kentucky. Admission is free to some branches.
The Royal Armories is England’s official museum of armor and weapons. The museum has three locations in England and a satellite branch in the United States. Items in the museum’s collections include weapons dating back to ancient times, a wide variety of armor and weapons used in British history, and weapons-related prints and manuals. The Royal Armory holds one of the largest collections of historic arms and armor in the world.
The largest branch of the Royal Armories is in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The Leeds branch houses more than 8,500 different items. This part of the collection is exhibited in five different galleries. Each is organized by weapon type and what the items were used for. The museum has a war gallery, a self-defense gallery, a tournament gallery, a hunting gallery, and an oriental gallery.
A second branch of the Royal Armories is located in London at the Tower of London. The museum, housed in the White Tower, has been the historic headquarters of the Royal Armories for hundreds of years. In 1545, visiting dignitaries paid a fee to visit and view the vast collection of arms and armor, making the museum one of the oldest in the world. As well as these displays, this branch also houses a range of prints, drawings and books about the Tower of London.
The Fort Nelson branch of the museum, located in Portsmouth Hill, Hampshire, is where the great artillery is displayed. The historic fort, which has been restored to the way it looked in the 1890s, houses more than 350 large cannons used throughout history. A visit to Fort Nelson is about exploring the fort itself as much as seeing the guns on display.
In 2004, the Royal Armories opened a satellite branch in the United States. Located in Louisville, Kentucky, it is part of the Frazier International History Museum. This Royal Armories collection showcases the history of the British Isles. More than 400 artifacts are on display here, along with informative state-of-the-art historical exhibits.
Each branch of the Royal Armory is open all year round. At the end of 2011, admission to the Leeds and Fort Nelson branches was free. Admission to the White Tower and Louisville locations, as of October 2011, was included in the general admission fee charged by the Tower of London or the Frazier Museum.
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