A Visit to the Armoury/Arsenal in Solothurn

Yesterday my other half, the Swiss one, had to go into town in the afternoon. I decided to go along as I had to make an important appointment (with my hairdresser). Mr. Swiss was busy so I had an hour to spare and decided to do something I had not done for at least fifteen years. I visited our local armoury.

It is the large building in the middle back of the photo. It has the largest collection of armour in Switzerland ranging from the olden days to the last world war, showing what the Swiss were wearing at the time. I seemed to be the only visitor except for a French bloke that was taking photos the same as me so I could get on with things. The first thing you see when you enter is this.

He is known as the "Zeughaus (armoury) Joggeli" and just belongs there. I remember when I went with the kids when they were younger. If you stand too near you get a spurt of water out of his mouth. He is well known all over our town of Solothurn. The armour seems quite small, but I think people were smaller in those days.

On the ground floor it is mostly canons and such like, but this seems to be something they used for bringing food supplies to the front in one of the wars the Swiss took part in.

The Swiss were involved in a few wars in their past history. Although they are known today as being neutral, in the olden days they had quite a few invaders from the surroundings, the Austrians, Prussians and I don't know who else, but there were many.

This scene shows part of Swiss history. The bloke in grey is Niklaus von der Flue, the patron saint of Switzerland. Now I am not all into the Swiss history, but he was a farmer, got married, had 10 kids then moved on to become a hermit. Perhaps the kids were too much, I don't know. Anyhow he was very much loved by the Swiss and he was the mayor in the town where he moved to. Eventually he seemed to be good at smoothing over conflicts and I think this scene shows how he managed it in front of the soldiers and the church. Anyone who knows better may correct me. I just found it a nice photo.

Here is a selection of the armour on show. There is so much to see and I did take about fifty photos of everything. Although Switzerland is known as being a neutral country, they always had to guard their borders. I know my father-in-law was away during the war years on the Swiss-French border and there were some more "modern" uniforms being shown.

I was quite enjoying my time in the armoury, but my mobile suddenly rang and it was Mr. Swiss telling me he had finished his business and was waiting for me on the bridge (how romantic). I was planning a visit for another fifteen minutes, but when the voice calls you have to go. Anyhow if anyone is interested that can look at the photos either on

Flickr or

Multiply