22.08.2016.

Exhibition of percussion pistols and revolvers to mark the Military Museum Day

On the occasion of marking 138 years since the founding and celebration of the Military Museum Day – 22nd August, an exhibition "Percussion pistols and revolvers" by Vuk Obradovic has been opened today in the gallery of this institution.

The opening was attended by Defence Minister Zoran Djordjevic, Lieutenant General Jovica Draganic, Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces and numerous visitors.

Colonel Sladjan Ristic, Head of the Department for tradition, standard and veterans, opened the exhibition and said that percussion weapon ignition system is only one scale in the development of handguns.

- Taking into consideration the different aspects of the development of this system it is possible to follow all of the technological, social

and political progress of general civilization. This fact is particularly interesting when you know that the flintlock ignition system prevailed as long as 300 years to be almost completely replaced, in a very short period of time, by a percussion system, Colonel Ristic said, adding that the exhibition represents a unique opportunity to see in one place this type of weapon which is preserved in the Military Museum.

Lieutenant Colonel Dragan Nusic, Deputy Head of the Military Museum, said that the Military Museum has been " protector of the Serbian history" ever since its foundation.

- Since 1878, when it was founded by the Decree of Prince Milan Obrenovic, the Military Museum has shared the fate of its people and preserves traces of primarily military material culture from the Serbian ethnic space in the Balkans. Looted and destroyed during the wars and rebuilt in peace, the Military Museum, as a cultural institution of the Ministry of Defence of great importance, has been awarded the highest state decorations and professional recognitions from the Order of Military Merit with a big star to Vuk’s and Valtrovic’s awards, Lieutenant Colonel Nusic emphasized.

The collection of factory weapons and equipment until 1918 is one of the most important collections of the Military Museum whose 1,825 museum objects are preserved in depots and permanent exhibition. Along with numerous rifles, machine guns, a variety of ammunition, sabers, bayonets and lances, there are also 252 pistols and revolvers made during the 19th and early 20th century.

In the study exhibition "Percussion pistols and revolvers", the audience was first introduced to the selection of the 35 most significant pistols and revolvers with percussion ignition system, as one of the steps in the development of handguns. Some of the exhibits were made by the world's biggest masters – John Menton, famous British gunsmith and Matthias Nowotny, whose workshop supplied the Viennese court, and there are also some of the most famous examples of Colt revolvers exposed

The exhibition, which is to last until 14th November, is accompanied also by the application, multimedia display that will enable visitors to interactively communicate with the exhibition, as well as the catalogue of the exhibition in which all the percussion pistols and revolvers that are stored in the Military Museum in Belgrade are published and professionally described.