The exhibition Steel of Glory: A Knight’s Life of Armor, Blade and Honor opened on March 21 at the Nanshan Museum in Shenzhen, China. This marks the city’s first major exhibition dedicated to the culture of European knighthood.
The exhibition showcases 140 stunning artifacts (sets) related to the world of knights, including suits of armor, helmets, cuirasses, shields, and weapons. They are presented in four sections: “A Forged Identity: Armory of the Knight”, “The Road to Glory: A Knight’s Life”, “The Twilight of Knights: Modern Challenges” and “A Fabulous Farewell: From Warriors to Symbols”. Spanning a millennium of history, the exhibition invites visitors to an immersive journey through the turbulent Middle Ages and beyond, offering a vivid exploration of the knight’s path—one marked by both glory and peril.
More than just warriors, knights were cultural icons and figures of legend, with honor as their guiding principle. Many came from humble beginnings, rising from the chaos of early medieval Europe. They valiantly charged into battle for their lords, and took up arms in crusades for the church in pursuit of redemption. Through countless trials of steel and spirit, they gained lasting admiration and ultimately became potent symbols of European identity and cultural memory.
This is the first time in two years that the Nanshan Museum has brought Italian artifacts to Shenzhen. Through these rare and fascinating objects, visitors are invited into the world of knights—to witness the honor they forged through steel, and to experience the rich cultural legacy they left behind through battles, banquets, poetry and history.
The exhibition is sponsored by the Culture, Media, Tourism and Sports Bureau of Nanshan District, and jointly organized by the Nanshan Museum and the Royal Palace of Turin, Italy. It is open until June 22.
Source: Nanshan Museum