There is a touch of the centenary history of the International Shooting Sport Federation, at the centre of the new section of the German Rifle Museum in Coburg. There, on February 22, a new section of the Callenberg Castle’s permanent exhibition has been inaugurated. “Sternstunden der Schießsportgeschichte" (Great Moments in the History of Shooting Sport) is the name of the new room, where the “Challenge Trophies” that were awarded at the World Shooting Championships for the team competitions will be displayed.
Those are fine pieces of art, which literary travelled around the world for decades, before being collected back by the ISSF. After two years of preparations, the trophies and their magic stories of sport and friendship dating back to the beginning of the 1900 will are now made available to the German Shooting Museum on permanent loan.
The German Shooting Museum also display many other interesting items related to international shooting. Olympic torches, complete outfits of the hostesses of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, as well as emblems and collection of ISSF official awards and documents, are part of the exposition.
ISSF Secretary General, Franz Schreiber, participated in the opening of the new room, at the presence of Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg, Princess Kelly and of the Hereditary Prince Hubertus, as well as of the DSB Vice-President Fischer.
Mr. Schreiber said: “These trophies are very important to our Federation. They embody the 100 year old tradition at the global, unifying nature of our sport.”
“We gradually collected these fine pieces of art, with the aim to present them to the public. And we found great partners in the German Shooting Federation, and in the German Shooting Museum, which holds an excellent reputation and a great popularity.”
“We visited the museum for the first time back in 2005, together with the ISSF Vice President Gary Anderson. From that time, we came back here many times. I myself, along with the DSB President, Mr. Jörg Brokamp, and the museum director Stefan Grus met in March 2010, agreeing to display the Challenge Trophies here.”
“We, the ISSF, and especially our President, Mr. Olegario Vázquez Raña are very happy that our "Challenge Trophies" have found home here, after a 100-year trip around the word. Callenberg Castle is a beautiful place for these traditional trophies.” Mr. Schreiber added.
“Sport is about people. Sport is about special men and special women. Sport is about timeless passion. Trophies are like snapshots of these special moments. They have the ability to capture a little bit of that joy, of those efforts, of the endless trainings, of the sufferance and of the success they have been in touch with. We hope that they will inspire the people visiting this beautiful museum.” Mr. Schreiber concluded.
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