2-979-631 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Old Arsenal in Dantzic, 1857. The Great Armoury in Gdansk, Poland, designed by Antonis van Obberghen. 'Built in 1605, and renovated in 1834, is a curious specimen of the architecture of the time. The front is profusely decorated with stone carving and gilt ornaments. It is a peculiarity of this building that not a single door or window is in the place it ought to be according to all the rules of art. The reason of this strange irregularity is not known; but it has been so skilfully managed that at first sight it does not strike the observer at all. When the French occupied Dantzic the building was used as a hospital. Its museum formerly contained several historical relics of value - among them the dagger with which Ravaillac stabbed Henry IV. of France, and the armour of Count Egmont'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.