Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds
Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds
Jake Davies
The Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds is a modern, spacious, museum with a large collection of exhibits that are surprisingly interesting and will appeal to a wide range of ages and interests.
The Royal Armouries Museum claims to be the oldest museum in the UK and one of the oldest museums in the world. It traces its roots back to the Tower of London. Being a national museum, entry is free.
Exhibits
On display are more than 7,500 objects of weaponry and armour collected by the Royal Armouries since the 15th century. Originally the collection was housed in the Tower of London, which still displays some pieces in the White Tower. Fort Nelson near Portsmouth is the third site of the museum, where the National Collection of Artillery is held.
Architecture
The new building in Leeds was built to enable more of the collection to be put on display than in the limited space of the Tower of London. The £42.5 million structure was designed by Derek Walker and Buro Happold.
The floors are unusually tall to enable the longest weapons to be displayed vertically. The construction of the museum was the first stage of the planned redevelopment of the Leeds Dock area.
The museum is divided into a series of themed galleries, and perhaps the most striking is the Hall of Steel. This is actually the main stairwell and exhibited on the walls are more than 2,500 objects arranged in symmetrical trophy displays. There are groups of helmets, breastplates, daggers, swords, bayonets, pikes, lances, spears, and numerous types of firearms, and looking up is like looking at a three dimensional mandala.
Obviously many displays are about war, with ancient and medieval warfare prominent, but modern warfare is also featured. A new gallery, in cooperation with the Peace Museum in Bradford, is devoted to peace. One of the biggest galleries, spread over two floors, focuses on the era of tournaments and jousting. Other galleries look at hunting, and self-defense.
Perhaps the most intriguing of the galleries is the Oriental Gallery displaying objects from the Islamic world, India, South East Asia, China, and Japan. The most impressive is an Indian war elephant clad in what is the best preserved set of elephant armour in the world. There are also mounted warriors from China and Japan.
It's not all ancient history, one of the museums mot recent acquisitions is a "pulse" rifle from the movie Aliens. This new gallery is devoted to arms and armour in popular culture and includes an imperial storm trooper from Star Wars, and swords from the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.
New exhibitions are constantly being created, currently one devoted to the Second World War, and another on the Tudors, including Henry VIII's armour, are running.
Behind the main building, alongside the river, is an area where demonstrations of jousting take place, and inside the building there are also sometimes demonstrations of how historical weaponry and armour were used.
Shop & Cafes
The museum has two cafes for food and drink but currently one is closed due to pandemic restrictions.
The museum shop carries plenty of books and historical products but also a full range of weapon replicas from popular film and fantasy series.
Access & Hours
Armouries Drive
Leeds LS10 1LT
Tel: 0113 220 1916
www: royalarmouries.org
Open 10 am to 5 pm every day during school holidays. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays for the rest of the year.
Entry is free although special exhibitions may have a charge.
Access - Getting to Leeds
Leeds City Station is the city's main station and one of the busiest stations in England outside London with intercity and local Metro trains. Leeds Station is located just south of City Square.
There are First TransPennine Express trains to Newcastle, Manchester Piccadilly Station in Manchester, as well as Manchester Airport and Liverpool Lime Street. Other connections include trains to Hull and Middlesbrough.
Northern has trains to York Station in York, Blackpool North, Bradford, Manchester Victoria, Huddersfield, Selby, Sheffield, Carlisle and Ilkley.
East Coast has trains to King's Cross Station in London, Waverley Station in Edinburgh, Glasgow Central in Glasgow, Peterborough, Hull and Darlington.
There are CrossCountry connections to Nottingham, Birmingham New Street Station in Birmingham, and from there to Cardiff in Wales, and Exeter in Devon.
The National Express bus station in Leeds is behind Kirkgate Market.
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