Imperial Austria

The Gallery was the inaugural venue for the major international exhibition Mazda presents Imperial Austria: Treasures of Art, Arms & Armour from the State of Styria, organised by Art Exhibitions Australia, which was a splendid survey of the art of Renaissance and Baroque armourers. The great majority of exhibits were on loan from the famous Landeszeughaus armoury in the capital of the Austrian State of Styria, Graz. The Landeszeughaus was the principal supplier of weapons and armours to the eastern frontier of Christian Europe in its wars against the Ottoman Turks during the 16th century. The collection of arms and armours made both for war and the joust was extremely imposing. It was accompanied by a selection of painting, sculpture, decorative arts and antiquarian books in order to provide a greater context and to provide the design sources for what is surely some of the most elaborate metalwork ever made.