[Kuo Xie]

Hello, I'm taking a trip to St Petersburg this summer and I would love to check out some arms and armor museum exhibits, and old military architecture. All eras interest me but I particularly would like to see Russian knights' armor from the High Middle ages, and the early Novgorod kingdom. Most of my reading has been about western medieval Europe so i want to see how the Russian pieces compare. So far I have found:

- Military-Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineering and Communications Forces - http://www.saint-petersburg.com/museums/artillery-museum/

- Of course there is the Hermitage Knight's Hall - http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/

- Vyborg Castle Museum outside the city - http://www.saint-petersburg.com/museums/vyborg-castle-museum/

- Bip Fortress - late 1700s fort in Pavlovsk Park

- Fort Alexander on Krondstadt Island - 19th century naval forts

- Military Medical Museum - http://milmed.spb.ru/

Any other big ones I'm missing? I'd love to hear from folks on the ground there if we have any on the forum.

[Shahril Dzulkifli]

You're going to St. Petersburg this summer, Kuo?
Wow! That's great!

[Jeffrey Hildebrandt]

There is some interesting non-Western armour in the museum of anthropology & ethnography (Kunstkamera), just across the Neva from the Hermitage, too.

Keep in mind that the Hermitage has a hall dedicated exclusively to arms and armour, but many other rare and wonderful pieces in non-armour specific displays, like ancient Greek and Indo-Persian. I missed it when I was there, and I'm still kicking myself for it.