During my last holiday I went to the Museum of the Bundeswehr located in Dresden Germany. History here starts with the building itself. Today you find the Bundeswehrmuseum inside the building was constructed in 1877 as arsenal for the saxon army. In 1897 it was used as an army museum for the first time. since 1940 it was the Heeresmuseum , the museum of the Wehrmacht. After 1957 it was used as the museum of the NVA ( National peoples army of the GDR). In 1990 it was taken over by the Bundeswehr and reopened as the Bundeswehrmuseum in 1994 . Up until 2011 it was refurbished and partially rebuild under the famous architect Daniel Libeskind.

The building today:

The exhibition shows exhibits from the 13th century up until most recent developments of the Bundeswehr.

Here are pictures of the oldest artifacts on display:

Throughout the complete museum you find cupboards and drawers with rebuild artifacts you can try out . The one above explains ringmail. In the drawer you find a pair of ringmail gloves to try out.

Next up are pictures of the horse and musket period . 7th year war up to Napoleonic wars .

You can find a lot of these prints in drawers in the Napoleonic part of the exhibition. Very useful for painting miniatures. The plates below show the uniforms of the saxon army after 1810.

The Revolution of 1848 is the next stop we take when strolling through the museum:

The “iron sealion” The first U-Boot of the German Navy from 1850 build by Wilhelm Bauer.

Kaiserreich up to the 1st world war:

The world wars:

Todays Bundeswehr :

The exhibition ” Animals in the Army”:

Reenactment:

Miniatures in the Museum:

War and play:

Other pictures:

The outdoor exhibition:

So, there is loads more to see , but I hope you could get a small overview of the Museum . If you should ever be in Dresden it is well worth a visit. The Homepage of the museum can be found here.