Idrija Municipal Museum
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31 Oct 2016
16 Dec 2016
The exhibition Idrija – Town of Lace and Unesco Heritage, curated by Ivana Leskovec and Mirjam Gnezda Bogataj and organised in cooperation with the Idrija Municipal Museum and Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia Washington,
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19 Jun 2015
A screening of Connected by Thread, directed by Matjaž Mrak and produced by Friendly Production for Idrija Municipal Museum, at the 14th RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film
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7 Nov 2014
17 Dec 2014
Smuggling Anthologies, an exhibition and conference featuring Tanja Žigon, Božo Repe, Tomaž Pavšič, and Franc Trček, EU funded project led by Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMSU) in Rijeke, Trieste Contemporanea, and Idrija Municipal Museum
Exhibitions
Gewerkenegg Castle
The central museum exhibition with the title Five Centuries of the Mercury Mine and the Town of Idrija presents the development of the town of Idrija and 500 years of second oldest and largest mercury mine in the world. Which while operating produced one eight of all mercury in the world. Exhibition is thematically divided in 11 sections with 25 exhibition rooms covering a total area of more than 1,300 square metres.
Collection of Rocks, Fossils, Mercury Ores and Minerals, with nearly 3,000 different specimens is held to be the biggest exhibited collection of its kind in Slovenia. Documents Tell the Story and View of the Town in the front tower of the castle exhibits a selection of significant archival sources from all over Europe along with documents of the Idrija cartographers and mine maps, from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Mercury Tower, is highlight of exhibition and is designed like a shaft with three levels. Each level presents different symbolic values in the work of the miner. Equipment, ways and customs before entering the shaft. The second level are work, working conditions, tools, miners at work in 17th century, etc. And in the lowest part, there is a treasure here hanging in the air on iron wires, represented by a 320kg transparent Plexiglass cube with drops of mercury inside.
Famous Personalities, show portraits and documents relating to the activities of all those workers, intellectuals and mining experts that came, or were living in Idrija influencing Slovene and Europe's science and culture at large. For instance in Idrija were naturalists as Scopoli, Hacquet and Paracelsus.
The process of extracting mercury and cinnabar is illustrated in the room with the massive millstone that was used for grinding cinnabar, the clay retorts for blasting ore and original mercury scales from 1830. Important back up industry for mining is foresting, and Idrija is surrounded by hills and forests, that were cut for centuries for shaft support and mining architecture. Wood was also exported and river Idrijca with mouthing streams were transport routes. Architectures and technical solutions are vividly presented by various models of water dams, barriers and water rakes to pool incoming wood. Facilities that models show can still be visited in town Idrija or in surrounding areas.
Witnesses of Life's Beat presents the lively social and culture life in the Idrija of the past. The mining operation was responsible for the establishment of several very good local schools as well as craft traditions such as lace-making. Bobbin-lace making was introduced into Slovenia from the Czech and German lands of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy more than 300 years ago; the first mention goes back to the year 1696. Idrija gradually developed its own techniques and design patterns. In 1876 a lace school was established and its activities achieved European dimensions. Lace was exported worldwide the same as mercury.
A part of the museum is the Memorial Room of Dr. Aleš Bebler (1907–1981), a Slovene politician, diplomat, ecologist and participant in the Spanish Civil War. There is a permanent gallery collection, donated by Idrija-born translator and Rome gallery owner Valentina Orsini Mazza, which comprises 33 paintings and prints by renowned Slovene and Italian artists. There is also the Memorial Room of France Bevk, the famous Slovene writer, that was donated by his wife after his death in 1971. His study was moved from Ljubljana to the museum's permanent exhibition at Gewerkenegg Castle the same year.
On display in the Idrija Municipal Museum is a relief model of the Partisan Hospital Bolnica Pavla, the less-known, but no less important hospital where more than 1600 Partisans were treated.
Satellite locations
The museum oversees the activities of various satellites showing works which were necessary to maintain mine shafts, wood cutting and transport, the Flood Dams, Klavže in Idrija, built in 1772; Franci's Shaft, the museum`s technical department, mine shaft that has 15 of the most modern battery and steam machines for pumping water out of the mine from the 19th century to the early 20th cenury. It has the biggest water pump, known as Kley's Pump, made by the E. Škoda Pilsen factory (Plžen, Czech Republic) in 1893 and operated until 1948. After being repaired and renovated, the pump was opened again for the public in 2009. The Idrija Kamšt (from the German word Wasserkunst – "water art"), the largest wooden water wheel in Europe which pumped water from the mine from the time of the French Revolution all the way till 1948. It was restored and reopened for public viewing in September 2009.
Another site is the Idrija Miner's House dating from the end of the 19th century which was renovated in 1990. Natural heritage is represented by the Wild Lake Natural Museum, located two kilometres south of Idrija; the Franja Partisan Hospital.
The Slovenia Partisan Printing Shop in Vojsko is one of the best preserved monuments in the region from the Second World War. The Printing House operated from 1944 till the end of the war, and Partizanski dnevnik ("The Partisan's Daily") was the only daily newspaper in occupied Europe printed by a resistance organisation.
See also
Mining monuments and sites
- Idrija Mine Museum
- Miner's House - Ethnological Collection, Idrija
- Idrija Kamšt
- Franci's Shaft
- Flood Dams, Klavže, Idrija
WWII monuments
External links
- Idrija Municipal Museum website (in English)
- Idrija Municipal Museum as the Luigi Micheletti Award winner
- The City of Idrija Heritage
- Idrija on the Mercury Route of the Intercontinental Camino Real on the UNESCO tentative list
- Virtual Panorama of Idrija Municipal Museum on Virtual Guide to Slovene Museums and Galleries