National Museum of Slovenia

The National Museum of Slovenia has an extensive collection of archaeological artefacts, old coins and banknotes and displays related to the applied arts.

The museum was founded in 1821. After the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the name was changed to National Museum. In 1923 the ethnographic collections possessed by the museum were removed and placed in the new Slovene Ethnographic Museum and in 1933 much of its fine artwork was moved to the National Gallery of Slovenia. In 1944 the Slovenian Museum of Natural History became independent despite being located in the same building. In 1953 the majority of archives were moved to the Gruber Palace.

Renamed to National Museum of Slovenia in 1992, today the museum is divided into Archaeological Department, a Numismatic Cabinet, a Department of Prints and Drawings and a Department of History and the Applied Arts.

The main building of the National Museum is located close to the Slovenian Parliament building and the Slovenian Foreign Ministry, while the Ljubljana Opera House stands just opposite to it on the same square. It was built in the Neo-Renaissance style by the master builder Wilhelm Treo in collaboration with Jan Vladimír Hráský between 1883 and 1885. Treo mostly followed the plans by the Viennese architect Wilhelm Rezori.

The building was solemnly opened on 2 December 1888. In the Slovene Lands, this was the first building used solely for cultural purposes. A bronze monument to the Carniolan polymath Johann Weikhard von Valvasor, designed by the sculptor Alojz Gangl, was placed in front of the museum in 1903.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

Muzejska ulica 1, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Details

Founded: 1821
Category: Museums in Slovenia