Styrian Something Deep Within Me

Day: 216

Towns / Cities Visited: 137

Countries Visited: 25

Steps Taken Today: 17,650

Steps Taken Around the World: 3,564,579

Awaking to a beautifully sunny autumn morning, and with my mum feeling refreshed after a long sleep, we readied ourselves and headed out for our first full day of adventuring as a party of three. Walking into the warren of gorgeous architecture that makes up the city centre, and after a little hunting, we managed to find our top attraction: Landeszeughaus, otherwise known as the Styrian Armoury, the largest historic armoury in the world. This unique attraction, unlike many other historic armour and weapons collections, is held in the building erected specifically to house them during their years of use. Between the 15th and 18th centuries, Styria sat in the frontline of almost constant war against the Ottoman Empire. This constant fighting meant that the troops needed access to large amounts of armour and arms, and, in turn, this equipment needed somewhere to be housed. As such, in 1642, this building was created to serve such a purpose, and holds around 32,000 pieces. It was in use for one hundred years, before Empress Maria Theresa wanted to close it when the Austrian armed forced were centralised and their base moved to Vienna in the 18th century. The people of Styria, however, wanted to keep it for both practical and sentimental reasons, and thus they petitioned for its preservation. This petition was successful and…