Gorenjska Museum

Gorenjska Museum, Kranj, founded in 1963 collects, houses, researches and represents the movable cultural heritage of the wider Krain ("Gorenjska") region. It supports the formation and maintenance of regional and local identities and serves as an inspiration and help to the cultural problems, faced by the people.

History

The idea of establishing a museum in Kranj was born before the First World War. In 1953 the Municipal Museum of Kranj was founded and had its seat in the Prešeren House. In 1957 a second museum was established in Kranj – Gorenjska Regional Museum, which was renamed to the Museum of the People's Revolution in 1961. Gorenjska Museum, Kranj was established in 1963 by merging of the Municipal Museum of Kranj and the Kranj Museum of the People's Revolution. Following locations in Kranj had been assigned to the new museum: Town Hall on Glavni Trg, Prešernova house, and a Baroque Palace in Tavčarja Street. In 1993 the Baroque Palace was returned to the original owners. Gorenjska Museum, Kranj acquired new spaces in the Khislstein Castle, where its headquarters, administrative and service spaces were located until 2008, when the museum moved to a new location at Savska cesta, Kranj.

Programme and mission

The museum is focused on constant communication with the environment and the heritage is presented through exhibitions, publications, workshops, study circles and lectures. The Gorenjska Museum is a meeting place for people who know how to find those common elements that connect Slovenes to other nations and cultures in the preserved heritage and are also able to distinguish those treasures that are completely unique.

From the outset Gorenjska Museum has taken a keen interest in contemporary art and events in Gorenjska, which are continuously reflected in its gallery activities. A Department of Slovene Photography operates within the museum. The museum is also an active publisher, especially of the cycle Gorenjski kraji in ljudje ("Places and People of Gorenjska").

The museum academic library is a valuable research facility for many in-house and outside scholars and interested parties, as it covers all the areas of the museum.

Branches

Today in addition to Prešeren House it incorporates Kranj Town Hall, Khislstein Castle, Prešeren House, Kranj Archaeological Site, the Museum of Alpine Dairy Farming, Stara Fužina, Oplen House, and the Tomaž Godec Museum. All the major museum branches are represented in the museum, along with a series of auxiliary services (restoration and conservation workshop, historical archives, photo-laboratory, picture library, and library).

Collections

There are multiple collections in the main and branch units of the museum, divided and arranged according to the policy of each museum department: the ethnological collection, which currently consists of 7800 inventoried items (i.e. embroidery , wraps; horse hair sieves collection); the ancient history collection: most of the preserved artefacts date from the 18th, 19th and the beginning of the 20th Centuries, present history collections: collection and keeping of materials showing events and life in the Gorenjska region over the last century; recent history collection; archaeological exhibition The Iron Thread in the Kranj Town Hall, the art history collection: it encompasses numerous sculptures and paintings by masters of the 15th through to the 18th Centuries, as well as works by Leopold Layer (1752-1828) and his contemporaries, and the realists of the 19th Century; the collection of Slovenian Modern Art is also extensive and includes works by Gorenjska artists and by the recipients of the Prešeren Award; cultural history collection, looking primarily after the Prešeren House; a photography collection.

In addition twenty years ago after the completion of excavations at the Kranj parish church an archaeological monument has been arranged, in which the visible remnants of late Roman octagonal baptistery, remnants of the late 13th century baptistery and other finds are visible.

Exhibitions

There are numerous permanent and temporary exhibitions related mainly to Gorenjska region topics, held in main and branch units. In 2009 an exhibition was held in the Kranj Town Hall The Future of Banknotes. Another exhibition dealt with the Slovenian independence: Ne čujem dobro ("I Barely Hear"). The Museums in Bohinj Department head the international IRON ROUTE Interreg III B project for the Alpine area, which connects different and remote Alpine lands through a common history of mining and iron manufacturing.

In 2010 a new permanent exhibition in the rennovated Khislstein Castle: Prelepa Gorenjska, ponos si mi ti ("I am Proud of Thee, Gracious Gorenjska") is to be opened.

Awards

Museums' long-standing (1965–1972) director Dr. Cene Avguštin (1923–), the first museologist of Gorenjska region, won the Stele Award in 1999 for his lifetime achievements.

External links

Gorenjska Museum webpage

Gorenjska Museum

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