Arrabona - Múzeumi közlemények 37/1-2. (Győr, 1999)

Tanulmányok – Közelmények - Temesváry Ferenc: Győri puska a Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum gyűjteményében

ARRABONA 37.1999. TANULMÁNYOK - KÖZLEMÉNYEK FERENC TEMESVÁRY: The Carabine of Győr in the Collection of the Hungarian National Museum One of the most beautiful and most valuable fire-arms of Hungary has been called "the Carabine of Győr" for more than a hundred years. Although it has been in the collection of the Hungarian National Museum since 1832, the gun neither has been studied intensively nor any of the misinformation have been amended so far. This essay concentrates only on the possible reasons of the carabine's making, the circumstances of the purchase, the effects of the 15-year war on gun-making, the applied motifs and the message of the carabine. It also examines the gun in the relation with other jewel-guns and finally summerizes the results. The carabine of Győr which is richly decorated with mythological figures, depicted forts, hunting and war scenes was made in 1626. At first the item was thought to be connected with the siege of Székesfehérvár, after that with the siege of Győr where the town was gratuitously given up to the Turks by Ferdinand Hardegg, the castellan, and János Miklós Porlin in 1594, wherewith the main depicted scene on our gun is their execution. The author points out that the decoration shows western mercenary armies fighting against each other without the trace of the Turkish troops. Therefore, the gunmakers did not attempt to depict either the fall or the relief of Gyot (1598). However, the rumours of the f orementioned execution spread all over Europe and they probably depicted this scene to refer to it as a significant event of the 15-year war. 142