Sweden's Chivalric Dreams
An international exhibition run by the Swedish Royal Armoury on Tournaments and the Dream of Chivalry.
Henry VIII's ram's horn helmet, the tournament book of Rene of Anjou and the tilting skirt of Sweden's Thirty Years' War hero, Gustavus Adolphus, are just some of the weird and wonderful objects currently making up the international exhibition Tournaments and the Dream of Chivalry staged by the Swedish Royal Armoury (Livrustkammaren) in Stockholm.
The exhibition, which lasts until December, has drawn, on exhibits from forty European museums (including Britain's Royal Armouries). It evokes not just some of the truly astonishing tournaments and associated pageants that Europe's rulers staged for over 500 years, but also probes their cultural and psychological importance that wove them into dynastic rites of passage such as coronations, weddings and funerals, as well as the cementing of international treaties and alliances.
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