Today we went to the Stibbert Museum for the second time in three days. I think it's the best museum in the world! It is a stupefying, amazing collection of arms and armor. In the museum, there were many different rooms with different cultures arms and armor. 

First I would like to tell you about my favorite room, the Japanese room. In the Japanese room there  are over 200 samurai katana, matched by a wonderous collection of samurai armor maybe 100 strong. As the icing on the cake, there were about 30 samurai bows with a war gong. Did you know that the Japanese collection at the Stibbert Museum is the largest collection of Japanese arms and armor outside of Japan?

While the Japanese room was my favorite the Museum also had a European collection. In a few rooms they were probably over 500 rapiers all lined up on walls and most of them were probably in usable condition. But the suits of armour are not lacking, there were all different kinds and there were probably 200 of them. I really liked the ones that were black with gold streaks on them. I thought that it was very interesting to see the slant on the breastplates to deflect sword strokes. Me and my dad also saw some two handed swords that I don't think anyone could wield but somehow they managed.

Rounding out the Stibbert Museum collection is the Islamic room. In the Islamic room there was a cavalcade of eight warriors on horses. But one of the things that caught my attention the most was the 20 or so Shields on the wall. But in a nondescript case there was the crown jewel– an amazing double bladed battle axe. On the walls there were also some remarkable circular displays of scimitars like art out of the blades. You cannot miss the swords that look like they have a weird looking part on the back. I think that part was used to put your hand in, and your hand could be protected while you were wielding the sword. 

But something I think is very interesting about the Stibbert Museum is that it was not originally a museum. It was a private collector’s collection and when he died in 1906 he gave it over to the city of Florence. It inspired me to try to become a collector.