Tolmin Museum

Established in 1950, Tolmin Museum is housed in the listed 17th-century Coronini Mansion in the centre of the town.

The Coroninis owned the Mansion until 1848, when Alois Silverius Kremer, knight of Auenrode, bought it together with the castle and buildings. In the following year he sold most of the property to local peasants and in 1871 the remains of the estate were bought by Johann von Permerstein and the knight Filippo Persoglia. Three years later they divided the mansion. The Permersteins owned the part of the building which is today the Krn Hotel, and the Persoglias owned the part which was occupied in the 19th century by the court and is now occupied by the museum. Each change of owner was usually accompanied by rebuilding. The 1976 earthquake also caused serious damage to the building; renovation began in 1993.

The first Tolmin Museum opened to the public at Coronini Mansion in 1951. In 1958 it was renamed the Tolmin Museum Collection and transferred to the management of the Goriška Museum until April 2000, when it was re-established as an independent public institution serving the municipalities of Bovec, Kobarid and Tolmin.

The museum covers the areas of archaeology, ethnology, general history and history of arts. Collections in the main building include: an archaeological exhibition of objects from the Hallstatt and Roman eras, including clay and stone urns, a tombstone and a fire-place; an art history exhibition which presents keystones from the 15th and 16th centuries, sculptures made by unknown woodcarvers and sculptors from the 16th to the 19th century, and oil paintings on canvas from the 18th and 19th centuries; and an ethnological exhibition comprising peasant home furnishings, utensils for making cheese and butter and other farming implements, and a variety of folk artefacts including painted chests, cradles, beehive panels, ornaments on butter models, frescoes on facades and Shrovetide masks, including typical masks from Drežnica.

In addition to the collections and exhibitions in the main building, Tolmin Museum also maintains several external collections and buildings, including the Archaeological Museum and the foundations of a Roman house at Most na Soči, the memorial exhibitions of Simon Gregorčič in Vrsno, of Ciril Kosmač in Slap pri Idrijci and of Simon Rutar in Krn village, the ethnological collections at Triglav National Park Lodge in Trenta, the wooden granary in Pečine and the German Charnel House at the confluence of the Soča and Tolminka rivers.

Tolmin Museum

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