AUTHOR: Mihai MAXIM, Dan RÂPĂ – BUICLIU
A RARE PIECE FROM THE COLLECTION OF WEAPONS OF THE HISTORY MUSEUM OF GALAŢI
Danubius, XXI, Galaţi, 2003, pp. 133-136.
Abstract
The article deals with a unique piece from the weapons collection of the History Museum of Galaţi. It is a yataghan, with a blade made of Damascus steel and with a silver hilt and sheath. Its ornamentation is Oriental and it also has an inscription in the Turkish-Osman language, attesting several defining elements: the period of the weapon (year 1222 of the Muslim calendar, namely the year between March, 11-th, 1807 and February, 27-th, 1808, of the Christian calendar), its craftsman, Osman Mehmed, and, the most important thing, its owner. The first owner of the sword was the future great vizier Mustafa Aga, also called Pasha Alemdar Bayraktar, during the reign of the sultan Mahmud the Second.
After the murder of its first owner, the sword followed a sinuous itinerary, from the Balkan area to the Romanian territory, and, at the end of the XIX-th century, it probably got in the possession of an ex-prefect from the district of Galaţi. Later on, it was brought to the History Museum, by the first museographers of Galaţi, Paul and Ecaterina Paşa.