Museum of the Polish Army is a museum in Warsaw documenting the military history of Poland. Established in 1920 under the Second Polish Republic, it occupies a wing of the building of the Polish National Museum as well as several branches in Poland. It is Warsaw's second largest museum and the largest collection of military objects in Poland. The collection illustrates a thousand years of Polish military history, from the 10th century to the Second World War.
Main building of the museum
Karacena armour, 17th century
M-3 Halftrack in front of the museum
Polish plate armour, circa 1514
The Polish hussars, alternatively known as the winged hussars, were a heavy cavalry formation active in Poland and in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1503 to 1702. Their epithet is derived from large rear wings, which were intended to demoralize the enemy during a charge. The hussars ranked as the elite of Polish cavalry until their official disbanding in 1776.
Polish hussars
Entrance of winged Polish hussar delegates in La Rochelle, France, in 1573, following the Siege of La Rochelle (1572–1573) and their offering of the Polish throne to the Duke of Anjou.
A historical reconstruction of a winged hussar, 2013.
Polish hussars during entry into Kraków, detail of so-called Stockholm Roll, 1605.