This is what the Tøjhusmuseet building itself looks like …
The first guns of the 15th century. It was not at all easy to create such a miracle of military thought at that time. First, it was required to forge strips of a wedge-shaped profile from iron and carefully grind them to one another. Then they were red-hot and forged into a pipe from them, joining together by means of forge welding. Secondly, it was necessary to make hoops with a diameter smaller than the barrel, heat them red-hot and put them on the barrel with an interference fit. Separately, it was necessary to make a powder charging chamber, and not one, but the more, the better. Both of these parts had to fit exactly one another so that there was no gas breakthrough. The chamber was locked with a wedge. Since the gunpowder looked like a sticky pulp, loading the chambers was quite difficult and dangerous, but it made it possible to provide at least some rate of fire!
In the 16th century, tools have already learned to cast from copper and even cast iron. Danish-Norwegian 6-pounder ship cannons.
And here are the 14-pound bronze guns of King Christian IV.
Casting freed the hands of the masters, because they were cast in wax molds, and the cannons turned into real works of art. Here, for example, is the cannon cast in 1564 by Mathias Benningck in Lubeck for the admiral's ship "Engle".
Cannon, cast in 1687 in Copenhagen by Albert Benningck (family, so to speak, in a row) for Christian IV, King of Denmark and Norway.
Mortar 1692 with the abbreviation of the manufacturing plant.
The cannons were now sometimes specially cast in order to present them as a gift. For example, a 27-pound bronze cannon from the 16th century, a gift from Christian IV to the Duke of Oldenburg.
This is the rear view of the gun.
12-pounder field gun of 1849 with a bronze barrel.
Cannons served for a long time in the 19th century. Here is a Danish 24-pound field cannon, model 1834, that took part in the war of 1864.
Danish 12-pounder fortress rifled gun M1862-1863.
Danish 30-pounder coastal gun M1865.
Danish 12-pounder fortress rifled gun M1862-1876.
Danish 150 mm M1887-1924 fortress cannon on a field carriage.
Danish 190-mm howitzer of 1898 fortress artillery.
Belgian 120-mm cannon of the late 19th century.
As you can see, the bolt is already wedge-shaped.
Danish 90-mm field gun М1876.
Danish fortress 150 mm gun M1884.
Danish 75-mm field gun of the late 19th century.
And, of course, a 37-mm Hotchkiss revolver cannon on a field carriage. Well, as without her …
At one time, the magazine "Modelist-Constructor" published materials about the battleship "Twelve Apostles", about the most powerful 68-pound bomb guns installed on the lower decks of the ships "Paris", "Grand Duke Constantine", "Twelve Apostles" and the role that they played in the Battle of Sinop. But the same Danes at that time already had such absolutely monstrous, 100-pound (45, 4 kg) iron ship howitzers.
Danish naval rifled 84-pound piston-breech cannon.
Same: front view.
Such "pigs" …
Danish 150mm experimental rifled howitzer.
Danish 1887 170-mm cannon by Friedrich Krupp. Of course, there was no way without him either …
And this is its breech for a horizontal wedge-shaped breech.
Danish 75-mm naval rapid-fire cannon of 1914.
This is how she looks from behind.
Danish rapid-fire shipborne 37-mm cannon with shoulder rest 1886
Danish rapid-firing 47-mm naval cannon with shoulder rest 1887
And this is the Swedish-Danish 37-mm anti-tank gun of 1938.
The famous French 75-mm field gun M1897 Puteau and Depora. It was with her that all modern rapid-fire artillery began …
Rear view of her. Needless to say, the gun is preserved in such a quality that even now load and shoot!
And here is, for comparison, the German 77-mm field gun of 1896. Neither elegance nor grace.
This is how she looked from behind. In principle, wow, but the rate of fire was still lower than that of the "Frenchwoman", 10 versus 15. Due to the shorter barrel, the range was also lower.
But on this design, the Germans took revenge: the 7.5 cm M1940 anti-tank gun.
40-mm ship "pom-pom". The Danes had them in the navy too!
Danish 20-mm anti-aircraft machine gun 1940
40-mm anti-aircraft machine gun firm "Bofors" 1936 on the installation for coastal fortifications.
The famous German anti-aircraft gun "88" 1936
The museum also has an impressive collection of mortars. Here is one of them. Mortar Danish-Norwegian production 1600-1700
Well, this is a completely unique exhibit - a stove in order to heat cannonballs for firing at wooden ships. The nuclei were laid from above and sank down as they were heated, from where they were taken with special pliers. The kernel had to be a dark cherry color in order not to become too soft.
And here is the cart, with the help of which the red-hot cannonballs were delivered to the guns. In England, they shot a very interesting series "Hornblower" about the career of an English naval officer of the era of Admiral Nelson and based on the facts of his own biography. So there, in one of the episodes, it is very realistically shown how cannonballs are heated and fire cannons are fired at ships. Only the stove is different there. But all the same - I highly recommend watching this movie!
If you are in Copenhagen, go to this museum without fail. There is still a lot of interesting things. The only pity is that behind the glass.
