The Swiss Army museum at Full-Reuenthal is one of my favorite museums and a place with a lot of history and unique collections nowhere else to be found. The museum itself is located in a beautiful area inside of a former industrial building which has 7 floors, all accessible by original steel (open) stairways – the centre areas of the first 5 floors are all open.

Switzerland as a neutral Central European state has a very different set up of their armed forces – it can’t just rely on other countries therefore it has its own defense industry. A special area of the museum is dedicated to the Swiss MOWAG armed vehicles manufacturer – many of its prototypes, unique in the world, are on display. In 2004 MOWAG became part of a General-Dynamics division – and some MOWAG vehicle models are still in production and in use by foreign armed forces today. 

Another part of the museum has the personal historical collection of Oerlikon – the Swiss manufacturer of light/ medium/ heavy canons used in tanks, aircraft and other vehicles, as well as other AAA weaponry. Oerlikon is globally well-known and supplied quite literally to every possible nation – ranging from nazi-Germany to modern day American and even other neutral countries manufacturers.

It is because of this weapon industry, and the neutral country status, that Switzerland – and this museum – had many possibilities to gather a very wide range of all kind of weaponry. During world war 2 it also managed to keep hold of any (now historical) equipment which was confiscated when it ended up on Swiss territory. Thanks to all of these factors the Full-Reuenthal Swiss Army Museum nowadays has a superb collection and definitely worth a visit.