The Museum of East Bohemia in Hradec Králové has prepared for its visitors in association with other museums and objects in the Czech Republic a unique exhibition The Cold Beauty of the Plate Armour. The aim of the project is to acquaint the public with the development of knightly armour from the 15th - 17th century and point out the unique items from collections of our museums, castles and chateaux.

This period is the golden age of the armourer's craft and represents in the best way the development of protective armour - in structure and also in its function. While in the beginning the armour served mainly as a protective element for battlefield fighting, in the later period it was used mainly in tournaments and became more a decoration.

The exhibition is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the Gothic period circa 1440 - 1500. Armours from this period are in the Czech collections very rare - several tens of pieces (mainly parts of armours), but they are overwhelmingly represented at this exhibition. The visitors have the unrepeatable opportunity to compare exhibits, that are usually spread out all over the republic.

The second part of the exhibition represents the Renaissance period from 1500 till the beginnig of the 17th century with highly artistic armours. These armours demonstrated chiefly wealthiness and the status of the owner. They used to become the basic part of family collections, that adorned the family estate and reminded of heroic deeds of the ancestors.