EUROPEAN MILITARY

86

MUSEUMS

equipment. Added to this are 4,630

Most of the uniforms, parts of uniforms,

and personal

medals and

insignia.

decorations,

and medals were donated by private families and are personal sou
venirs once worn by French officers. The small-arms collection con
sists of 1,580 rifles and 450 pistols, and its edge weapons include 930
nations. Its
heavy ordnance numbers 430 cannon, a few of which are complete
with carriage equipment. There are also 350 artillery models on

European swords and sabers and

380 from oriental

display. Armor comprises a considerable portion of the inventory

and includes 475 suits and separate pieces of armor dating from
the 15th to the 18th century, 340 pieces of equipment for men
and horses, 290 pieces of headgear, 90 shields, and 1,300 shafted
weapons such as halberds and battle axes. Added to this is a
smaller oriental armor collection of 46 suits of armor and 300
halberds. The museum also can offer assistance to the researcher
through use of its 20,000-volume library.

In

the amount of space allocated for display, the Musee de

l'Armee is similar in size to the Leger en Wapenmuseum at Leiden
and the T0jhusmuseet at Copenhagen. At present this amounts
to 69,400 square feet and includes both the individual rooms and

interior corridors and vestibules in which objects are

displayed. No accurate estimate can be made of the actual space
used for outside exhibition on the veranda of the building, because
the veranda functions principally as an access route to the museum
some of the

halls, and objects are placed intermittently along the passage or

against its walls. The veranda itself, however, contains about
11,000 square feet. The amount of storage space used by the
museum is not known. Individual workshops have been provided
to meet the museum's need for the preservation of armor, restora
tion of uniforms, painting, and carpentry, but their area is likewise
not known to the writer. The museum also has a small exhibits
laboratory. Its offices and other service rooms total about 8,100
square feet, and its library is housed in a space of 1,300 square feet.
As a public institution the Musee de l'Armee is part of the
Ministry of War, but the relationship is a somewhat tenuous one.

The Ministry has certain prerogatives of control which it exercises

rather loosely. The museum has been operating somewhat au
tonomously for many years to the apparent satisfaction of the
Ministry. Its future is well assured, because it functions as an