Axe

A large iron axe, found by accident at the foot of the castle hill in Lublin during construction works in 1993. It belongs to a collection consisting of five axes and nine other iron objects (including knives, a padlock, a buckle). The relics were presented to the Lublin Museum by a random explorer.

The large axe has a semi fan-shaped blade, a sharply pointed top and a long shaft. It bears a pottery mark on the neck - a circular maker’s mark with seven plastic circles arranged in the form of a flower.

In the area of the present-day Lublin region more than thirty examples of axes from the late Middle Ages, i.e. dated to the second half of the 13th-15th centuries, have been recorded. It is worth noting the very frequent occurrence of smith marks and elaborate ornaments on the artefacts.

Examples of this type of axe, to which the described specimen belongs, are often found in medieval iconographic and especially heraldic sources. In written sources, for example in Jan Długosz, they are described as executioners' or butchers' axes.

The exceptional quality of the weapon is significant in connection with the context of the discovery near the communication route leading from the Old Town to the royal castle in Lublin.