The only original brass cannon of Áron Gábor which can be found the Székely National Museum in Sepsiszentgyörgy was brought to the Military Museum in November 2019.
All the young children in Hungary will know the folk song titled “The Brass Cannon of Áron Gábor” by heart.
The well-known song is about Áron Gábor, famous cannon caster of the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 who started his famous speech on 16 November 1848 with the words “There shall be cannon”, as a result of which he gained appointment for cannon casting.
Circa 70 cannon were manufactured under his supervision, but only one authentic piece has been preserved. The cannon on display here was found on 18 August 1906 in Kézdivásárhely (today Târgu Secuiesc, Romania) while fixing underground water pipes in the courtyard of the Rudolf Hospital, the building of which formerly served as the cannon manufacturing works.
The cannon was taken from Kézdivásárhely to the Székely National Museum in Sepsiszentgyörgy (today Sfântu Gheorghe, Romania) in 1923. In 1971, it was transported to the Romanian National History Museum in Bucharest. In the 1970s, handicraftsmen in Kézdivásárhely cast two replicas, which were placed in the courtyards of the museums in Kézdivásárhely and Sepsiszentgyörgy, respectively. As a result of several political efforts, the Székely relic was repatriated to the Székely National Museum in 2010, where it was on display from 15 March 2011 at the permanent exhibition.