Difference between revisions of "National Museum of Slovenia"

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National Museum of Slovenia is the country's oldest cultural and scientific institution, established in a year 1821, that holds major historic artefacts and sets museum guidelines and education for Slovenian museums and public. Museum experts and associates publish relevant literature on objects and documents that represent Slovene history and culture. National Museum of Slovenia comprises an Archaeological Department, a Numismatic Cabinet, a Department of Prints and Drawings, a Department of History and Applied Arts, Conservation and Restoration Department and National Museum of Slovenia Library. The museum is home to an extensive collection of archaeological artefacts, furniture, pottery glass and ceramic vessels, glass plate photos, documents, prints, religious objects, historic pictures and sculptures, old coins, medals, orders, banknotes, weapons, armours, sport legends, crafts and applied arts. Artefacts date from palaeolithic to 20th century. Highlight items of the museum are Neanderthal flute from the Stone Age cave of Divje Babe, probably oldest instrument in the world 45000 BC, famous ancient dugout canoe and selected artefacts from Copper and Bronze Age pile-dwelling settlements of the Ljubljana marshes (3rd millennia BC), Ishata Egyptian Mummy, a bronze situla from Vače (500 BC), a monumental gilded Roman statue of a citizen from Emona, Ljubljanica river rich archaeological finds, early medieval jewellery and arms, etc., which are presented in Main Museum Building.

History

National Museum of Slovenia is originating from the Provincial Museum of Carniola, which was established in 1821 The current building, was built between 1881 and 1885 and was designed in a Neo-Renaissance style by the Slovene architect Viljem Treo. The interior decorations were made by the painters Janez and Jurij Šubic. A monument to the Carniolan polyhistor Janez Vajkard Valvasor, designed by the sculptor Alojz Gangl, was placed in front of the Museum in 1904. Provincial Museum of Carniola became the National Museum in the time of Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1921. In 1923 its ethnographic collections were removed from the National Museum in order to establish the Slovene Ethnographic Museum as an independent institution, and in 1933 a major part of its fine arts collections were likewise transferred to the newly-established National Gallery of Slovenia. In 1944 the Museum of Natural Sciences (now the Museum of Natural History of Slovenia) became an independent institution, but remained in the same building until present times. In year 1946 the museum transferred a major part of its archive material to the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia (ARS). On Bled Castle the premises for permanent cultural history exhibition are opened in 1957. Inner yard of the buildingis covered for temporary exhibitions and public events at the same time in 1991 storage is set up in the basement of the building. The National Museum was renamed into National Museum of Slovenia in 1997. Year 2006 brings opening of lapidary collection in new glass pavilion next to museum. In 2008 new building National Museum of Slovenia - Metelkova is opened to the public, with modern storage, conservation and restoration workshops, and new exhibition spaces for Department of History and Applied Arts. Administration offices for curators, restoration experts and other members of stuff remained in main building at Prešernova 20 street. In year 2008 renovated exhibition spaces and new permanent exhibition was set at Bled Castle. Also Museum Castle Snežnik, the only castle in Slovenia with original interiors was put under administration of National Museum of Slovenia and permanent display was made there that same year.

Departments and collections

Archaeological Department

The Archaeological Department is the oldest of the specialized museum departments in Slovenia. It acquires, stores, and studies material from all archaeological periods found throughout Slovenia. It also has a small collection of artifacts from Egypt, including a mummy. The earliest finds were acquired more than 170 years ago. The collection today consists of around 63,000 objects from all archaeological periods. The individual objects and groups of material include some whose importance extends beyond the region of Slovenia, nearly all those mentioned as highlights of museum. The museum acquires material from field work - from topographic surveys and excavations (such recent finds from the Ljubljanica River, Godič near Kamnik, Gradišče above Bašelj, Dragomelj, Pržanj) - and also from donations and purchases. The computer program SITULA has been developed to aid in recording information about the artifacts. The research of the Archaeological Department is focused on problems related to the material stored in the National Museum of Slovenia, other Slovenian museums, and several museums in other European countries. The main themes of this research are the composition and technology of prehistoric metal objects, the local production of Roman pottery, Roman military equipment and fortifications, early medieval metal and glass objects, and weapons and military equipment in the late Middle Ages. The Department also organizes thematic exhibitions using material from throughout the entire country. Recent major exhibitions were Pismo brez pisave/Carta sine litteris/A Letter without Writing (1991, the Valvasor Award), Neanderthal Man and His Flute (1997), From the Romans to the Slavs (2000, award from the Slovenian Archaeological Society), Ljubljanica - A River and its Past (2009).

Lapidarium

The renovation of the museum building has provided the opportunity to create a new archaeological and cultural history depository and a lapidary collection. Material displayed on the upper floor can be removed when major temporary exhibitions are installed. Adjacent to the main museum building in glass pavilion there is an exhibition of Roman stone monuments, many of which were discovered in Emona, Ljubljana's earliest incarnation. The collection includes mosaics, altars as well as a sculpture of monumental stone lion. The number of tombstones, stone cemetary urns and sarcophagi illustrate the importance of funerary rites during the Roman period. About 80 Roman milestones from the period 2nd-4th century CE have been discovered in Slovenia, and while many of them remain in their original location, a few are on display in the museum.

Numismatic Department

The Museum's Numismatic Department is the only one of its kind in Slovenia and thus also functions as a national reference institution. Its principal tasks, besides collecting, include documentation, professional preservation and scientific study of coins, bank notes and other financial instruments, setting up corpora of classical, medieval and modern age finds from Slovene territory and studying the development of banking and insurance in Slovenia.

Prints and Drawings

The Department of Prints and Drawings operates as part of the library and possesses over 30,000 exhibits. Its holdings are divided into two basic groups - graphic and drawings - and, by contents, into art material and documentary material. The collections include works by domestic and foreign masters, different schools and stylistic trends, different graphic and drawing techniques and thematic units. The museum's collection of religious graphic art, devotional prints and documentary representations is particularly extensive and is of major importance in the reconstruction of national history.

Department of History and Applied Arts

The Department keep records, collects, documents, preserved, studies, investigates, and displays through material culture stories of historical events, economic trends, everyday life, and artistic achievements. Collections contain more than 48,000 objects; photos, glass negatives, furniture, historical pictures and sculptures, middle and new age arms and armour, personal and devotional objects, textiles and clothes, children toys, coat of arms, Freemason collection, kitchenware, pottery, ceramics, old glass, tapestry, flags, etc. In 2008 Department of History and Applied Arts moved to the new premises at Metelkova 25, which offers storerooms in the basement, professional and modern storage space for museum items of various materials and storage demands. Renovated building now National Museum of Slovenia - Metelkova that used to be before military compound called 4th of July until 1991, was reshaped and has from year 2008 exhibition rooms to house study collections on the history of applied arts. Ground floor offers spaces for block buster exhibition events. Opening of new building was inaugurated by Primož Trubar 1508 - 1586 exhibition for the occasion of his 500 year anniversary of birth. Primož Trubar published first Slovenian book in year 1550. In 2009 the exhibition Under the Napoleon's Eagle - 200th Anniversary of the Illyrian Provinces was organized in cooperation with the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia (ARS) and Musée National de l'Armée in Paris.

Conservation and Restoration Department

Their basic task is conservation and restoration, the production of museum replicas, and the professional packaging of museum exponents, as well as research, publication in professional and popular scientific publications, and offering professional advice and education. Department offers mentorship for professional examinations and theses and workshops for conservators-restorers. It has also responsibility for the preventive conservation of all of the museum collections. In accordance with professional requirements, the department specializes in work according to material and period. The archaeological part of the department conserves and restores archaeological metal, waterlogged wood, numismatic items, textile, glass, and pottery. The applied art section of the department conserves and restores historical weapons and military equipment, furniture, paintings, and crafted objects of metal, glass, pottery, and organic material. Workshops have modern equipment and procedures for examination of material and museum artefacts such as: electronic microscopes, X-ray and neutron radiography, computer tomography, XRF EDS, PIXE, IR, and UV photography, and other analytical methods. Computer program and database called PATINA has been developed to record the conservation and restoration documentation, as a part of the museum documentation system. National Museum of Slovenia has moved conservation and restoration workshops in new building of National Museum of Slovenia - Metelkova.

National Museum of Slovenia Library

The National Museum of Slovenia Library possesses a rich collection of old materials dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Its collection may be divided into two sections: the first supports the basic disciplines of museology, conservation, numismatics, archaeology, applied arts, art history and history, while the second section is historical and comprises rare issues that are important for the history of Slovenia, for instance, books of the Slovene Protestants, books on Ljubljana’s first printer Janž Mandelc (16th century) and the complete works of Valvasor (17th century). Library is public and its expert librarians are important backbone for all researchers from the National Museum of Slovenia and as well for the broad expert and lay public. Small but very interesting temporary exhibitions called Vitrina of the Month present manuscripts, prints and books in the library display glass cases.

Documentation and access

With the digitalization of material and the construction of an electronic database about the cultural heritage that its preserves, the National Museum of Slovenia has joined similar European institutions that are attempting to enable the broadest possible access to items of the cultural heritage through the use of modern information technology. Fundus, Situla and Patina are programs that were developed in National Museum of Slovenia for digital documentation, archiving of museum items and insight into their state of preservation. It provides public access to collections in museum through digital media. Database is constantly updated and it can be used for various multi layered informations on museum items. Some 60% of all items are inserted in database, the rest can be found documented in access books.

Museum store

Small Museum store is behind the ticket desk and offers various museum publications, catalogues and monographs, guides, catalogues, journals replicas, gifts, audiovisual material, posters and postcards, jewellery and textiles.

Publications

National Museum has organized a series of exhibitions primarily focusing on the material from its own collections, although material from other museums in Slovenia has also been included. All these exhibitions have been accompanied by richly illustrated catalogues. To name some: Castles are Crumbling, and Factories Rising. The Industrial Design of the 19th Century in Slovenia, Gothic in Slovenia. The World of Objects(1995) 1995 The Theatre of Human Life and Death. Images from the Seventeenth Century in Slovenia2002, From Bronze Ingots to the Euro. A Short Monetary History of Slovenia (2007), Treasures of the National Museum of Slovenia (2007), Primož Trubar 1508-1586. On the five-hundredth Anniversary of his Birth (2008), Neolithic Art in the Republic of Macedonia (2008), The Ljubljanica: a river and its past(2009),etc.

Twice a year since 1962, Argo, the Journal of the Slovene Museumsis published, the most important professional publication of Slovene museum experts, dealing with art history and the museology of the ancient and the medieval periods.

Established in 1957, Situla Magazine: Dissertationes Musei Nationalis Sloveniae is an annual publication of the National Museum which brings syntheses from the field of archaeology as well as monographs about numismatics, epigraphy, and ancient history.

Launched in 1994, Viri (Sources) - subtitled Studies in History and Applied Arts - is published every two years by the National Museum of Slovenia. It presents the results of research into the material culture of various historical periods in Slovenia. Past issues have focused on medals and medallions, pilgrims' badges, religious textiles, cream-coloured earthenware, and the collection of medieval glass, etc.

Other activities

In Year 2006 Slovenian Third Age University and National Museum of Slovenia begon with educational programme for cultural mediators, volunteers on the field of cultural heritage, where mediators are learned by educational programs of the museum to give guiding tours to the visitors explaining them about artefacts and context of the exhibition. The cooperation was supported by the European Commission (Gruntvig project LACE). First exhibition to guide was Slovenian Language: Identity and Symbol. A Short History of Slovenians (2007).

Public guided tours of the exhibitions are organised every third Sunday of the month at 11am, here is also educational program for children organised on weekends, also parties can be arranged, they are called Arheo-party. When not in use, some halls of National Museum can be also hired for presentations, press conferences, receptions and concerts.

National Museum of Slovenia and their experts also manage state exams for national heritage, where professionals are applying for state licence in the fields of museology, exhibiting, conservation and restoring, regarding also state laws on organisation and protection of national heritage.

Future plan of National Museum of Slovenia is to do 3D virtual guide through museum, where on-line visitor will be able through his avatar to visit virtual museum premises and check museum objects and exhibitions in high resolution 3D.

Branches

The dislocated branches administered by National Museum of Slovenia are: Bled Castle, Hrušica - Museum Collection and Archaeological Park, and Snežnik Museum Castle.

External links

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    | email       = tinka.selic@nms.si
-   | telephone   = 386 (0) 1 241 1772
+   | telephone   = 386 (0) 1 241 4404
    | fax         =
    }}