In 1962, Frederic Marès gave Barcelona City Council a collection of weapons for the creation of the Montjuïc Military Museum. Together with the municipal collections, these collections formed the main bulk of the new museum centre. The collection of weapons consisted of more than 300 specimens: crossbows, spears, arquebuses, pistols, powder cases, helmets, shields, swords and daggers from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

The origin of this collection is located around 1920, although everything seems to indicate that the most outstanding acquisition, in 1960, was that of the majority of pieces from Josep Moragas' collection of weapons. This antiquarian and collector had provided pieces to Barcelona's Josep Estruch, who, at the end of the 19th century, came to own one of the best collections of private weapons, which later became part of the Musée de l'Armée in Paris.

Following the closure of the Montjuïc Military Museum in 2009, Frederic Marès' weapons collection became part of our museum. A representative selection is presented in this room: in the lower display cases, around 50 swords and swords and, in the upper one, helmets, pieces of armour, a selection of shotguns, pistols, an arquebus, rifles and a set of powder magazines. In the central display table there is a group of pistols, among which stand out those of Catalan production from the 18th century and those of the Lefacheux system from the 19th century. Finally, in the display case that closes the room there are Central European hunting crossbows with expressive marquetry.

Collections 

Collection of Catalan pistols