View source for Slovenian Museum of Natural History

{{Article
| status       = TOPROOFREAD NIFERTIK
| maintainer   = Admin
}}

{{Infobox
| name                = Slovenian Museum of Natural History
| localname           = Prirodoslovni muzej Slovenije
| logo                = Slovenian Museum of Natural History (logo).svg
| street              = Prešernova 20
| town                = SI-1000 Ljubljana
| map                 = http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lon=14.49947&lat=46.05205&zoom=17&layer=mapnik
| mailing address     = P O Box 290, SI-1001 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| telephone           = 386 (0) 1 241 0940
| fax                 = 386 (0) 1 241 0953
| email               = uprava@pms-lj.si
| website             = http://www.pms-lj.si/
| founded by          = Government of the Republic of Slovenia
| opening hours       = 10am–6pm Mon–Sun, 10am–8pm Thu. Closed on national holidays.
| contacts = {{Contact
| name                = Miha Jeršek
| role                = Acting director
| telephone           = 
| email               = 
}}
| accounts               = 
https://www.facebook.com/prirodoslovni/
https://twitter.com/PSlovenije
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLCntwVAxmbC-Cd4tKWv4iA
http://videolectures.net/pms/
https://www.instagram.com/prirodoslovnimuzej/
}}

{{Teaser|

{{Wide Image|Slovenian Museum of Natural History 2006.JPG}}

Along with the [[National Museum of Slovenia]], which is located in the same building, the [[Slovenian Museum of Natural History]] is Slovenia's oldest cultural and scientific institution, originating as the Provincial Museum of Carniola, which was established in [[established::1821]] and became the National Museum in 1921. The museum, located in the town centre of Ljubljana near Tivoli Park, gained from the Austrian government at its establishment the [[Žiga Zois]] collection of books and minerals and the [[Count Hohenwart]] collection of mollusc shells. It has a dislocated unit, the [[Alpine Botanical Garden Juliana]], in Trenta.
}}

== History ==
In 1944 the national history collections were separated from the National Museum to become the Museum of Natural History in Ljubljana. The museum was renamed as the Slovenian Museum of Natural History in 1963. Because the museum is overcrowded, a new museum building has been planned in the Biology Center in Ljubljana for years.

=== Rudolfinum ===
The Rudolfinum building which houses both museums, was built in 1883&ndash;1885 by the Vienna architect Wilhelm Resori and realised by Ljubljana architect [[Viljem Treo]], while the interior was designed by Jan Vladimir Hrasky. The building is named after crown Prince Rudolf.

Rudolfinum has a spatial park in front of the main Neo-Renaissance façade, structured with a central projection with Ionic columns in the upper part and with allegoric statues of Courage and Kranjska, holding the coat of arms, at the roof. In front of the projection stand four allegoric statues presenting Art, History, Natural Sciences, and Labour.

The building encloses an atrium together with its two wings. The ceiling paintings are a work of [[Jurij Šubic|Jurij]] and [[Janez Šubic]], dating in 1885, while the main staircase is decorated with lying statues, made by Graz sculptor Viet Königer. They were removed from the Novo Celje Castle after the Second World War. The atrium was rearranged into the exhibition venue by the architect [[Marko Mušič]], when a glass roof was constructed in 1986&ndash;1991.

== Programme ==
With its important zoological, botanical and geological collections, the Slovenian Museum of Natural History functions as both a research institution and as a showroom for national, European and worldwide collections which demonstrate changes in biodiversity, the development of natural history thought and the different techniques of collection and preparation of samples. The museum has its own [[Slovenian Museum of Natural History Library|library]].

== Collections ==
The museum's geological-palaeontological collections include fossils from various Slovene sites, including an almost complete 20,000-year-old mammoth skeleton found at Nevlje near Kamnik. Also of significance are a 210 million-year-old 84-centimetre-long fish skeleton found in the Triglav Mountains and a Miocene-era baleen whale skeleton found in Slovenske Gorice.

One of the museum's founding collections was Baron [[Žiga Zois|Sigmund Zois's]] mineral collection. Although it is an outstanding historical collection, minerals are now exhibited as classified by modern methods according to their internal structure, and among them is the mineral zoisite, named after Zois. There are also two Biedermaier wooden tables that are covered by tiles from Palnstorf's collection of minerals and rocks.

Hohenwart's collection of mollusc shells comprises about 5,000 specimens, dating from 1831 and originating mainly from the Indo-Pacific. The insect collection of Ferdinand J. Schmidt includes several interesting specimens, notably the "narrow-necked" blind cave beetles (''Leptodirus hochenwartii'') that were described in 1831 as the first cave insect. The plants and animals of the mountains, marshes, and woods are shown in specialised dioramas. Also on view are permanent bird, reptile, fish, mammal and skeleton collections.

The Slovenian Wildlife Sound Archive is a collection of animal sounds, mainly on Heteroptera and Cicadas, stored on digital and analogue recording media.

{{Wide Image|Slovenian Museum of Natural History Mammoth skeleton.jpg}}

== Exhibitions ==
Beside permanent exhibitions, temporary ones are staged regularly; past exhibitions have included ''Our Little Big Sea'' on Slovenia part of the Adriatic Sea (2014&ndash;2020) and ''The Mysterious Death of Young Leonora'', where a skeleton of a fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) was on display (2011&ndash;2013), and which both received the [[Valvasor Award]], ''Evolution of the Earth and the Geology of Slovenia'' (2009), for which authors [[Miha Jeršek]], [[Matija Križnar]] and [[Renato Vidrih]] have received the recognition ''Prometej znanosti'' for excellence in communicating science in 2009, given by the [[Slovene Science Foundation]].

Some other temporary exhibitions include: ''What is changing the world'' (2006), ''The Treasury of Geological Heritage'' (2003), ''Snakes &ndash; Why are We Afraid of Them?'' (2002), ''Ljubljana Marsh and Iška'' (2001), ''The Mammoth in Herman's Den'' (2000), ''Slovene Nature, Istria and Carst'', ''Diversity of Minerals'' (2000) and ''Hidden Treasures of Macedonia'' (1999).

== International cooperation ==
The museum has participated in various research programmes in cooperation with institutions from abroad such as the National Museum Prague, Prirodonaučen muzej na Makedonija, Natural History Museum in London, Naturhistorisches Museum Wien and the Natural History Museum of the Netherlands, as well as in bilateral cooperation with museums in Czech Republic and Croatia.

In recent years the museum has organised a European hemipterologic congress in Fiesa and has participated in the symposium on the ''Role and Importance of Natural History Museums and Natural History Collections for Sustainable Development'' in Rijeka, Croatia. The museum was involved in the European BioCASE and KeyToNature project and in the European Union for Bird Ringing (EURING). It participated in the project International Year 2010 of Biodiversity and in the project International Year of Forests, 2011.

== Publications ==
The museum publishes the serial publications ''Scopolia'', ''Acta entomologica Slovenica'' in cooperation with the Slovenian Entomological Society Štefan Michieli, and ''Illiesia, International Journal of Stonefly Research'' with co-publisher the Mississippi College, which is freely available online. Temporary exhibitions are generally accompanied by specially published catalogues. The museum has published also some audio media of animal sounds, as an educational instrument for recognising different specimens of frogs, birds, cicadas, and others.

== See also ==
* [[Slovenian Museum of Natural History Library]]
* [[National Museum of Slovenia]]

== External links ==
* [http://www.pms-lj.si/en/ Slovenian Museum of Natural History website]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovenian_Museum_of_Natural_History Slovenian Museum of Natural History on Wikipedia]
* [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botanischer_Garten_%E2%80%9AAlpinum_Juliana%E2%80%98 Alpine Botanical Garden Juliana on Wikipedija] (in German)
* [http://www.burger.si/MuzejiInGalerije/PrirodoslovniMuzejSlovenije/Uvod.html Slovenian Museum of Natural History] on [[Virtual Guide to Slovene Museums and Galleries]]
* [http://www.burger.si/Ljubljana/Muzeji_Prirodoslovni.htm Slovenian Museum of Natural History panoramas] on [[Virtual Guide to Slovene Museums and Galleries]]
* [http://www2.pms-lj.si/illiesia/ ''Illesia'' Journal website]

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[[Category:Museums]]
[[Category:National museums]]
[[Category:Venues]]
[[Category:National cultural institutions]]
[[Category:Natural heritage]]