Slovene Sports Museum

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Muzej športa

Kopitarjeva 4, SI-1000 Ljubljana

http://www.muzejsporta.si

info@muzejsporta.si

Phone386 (0) 1 431 8340

Founded byGovernment of the Republic of Slovenia

Managed byPlanica Institute of Sports of the Republic of Slovenia

Currently still somewhat in development, the Slovene Sports Museum is the main national institution dealing with the material heritage of sports as well as physical exercise. Housing a permanent exhibition of artefacts, documents and other records related to sports in Slovenia, the museum was formally established in 2000. Its aim is that of collecting, conserving and presenting the relevant artefacts as well as researching the wider field of sports culture and its history.

The museum is located in the Ljubljana city centre, just next to the marketplace. The entrance, however, is somewhat hard to find and for larger groups it is advisable to announce their visit upfront.

The museum holds quite some materials on the Sokol (from the Slovene word for falcon) movement, an all-age gymnastics organisation founded in 1860s

Background and the current situation

The idea of setting up a museum on sports has been circulating since the 1980s, when some of its material was already gathered. Established in 2000 as the youngest (as well as smallest) national museum, it opened its doors two years later. However, in 2013 the museum ceased to function as an independent unit and became a part of the national institute for sports. Under the institute's wing it helped to set up the Planica Museum which handles the history of ski jumps and winter sports in the Alpine valley of Planica.

It should be noted that the sports museum's permanent exhibition is still under construction – inventorying is in progress; a digital database is being updated; photos, audio, video files and documentary films are being collected and organised.

Collections

A significant part of the museum's rich collection was provided by the Faculty of Sport Museum Collection and, since 2004, the Olympic Committee of Slovenia Archives. However, a great number of donations and acquisitions of artefacts have been made by individuals, collectors, athletes, sport workers, and experts, mainly consisting of sport equipment, medals, cups, sport uniforms, photographs, etc. New pieces are still gladly accepted.

The collection, tightly spread out over a 100m2 exhibition space, is extremely varied. One might mention a strong emphasis on winter sports, with the spanning from old hockey equipment to a selection of skis that sketches out their technological development. Among them one can find the original competition skis by the legendary skiers Mateja Svet and Ingemar Stenmark as well as a reproduction of the skis as were used a hundred years ago on the Bloke plains. Some select pieces relating to ski flying are still exhibited here. Others, like the heritage of the ski jump construction engineer Stanko Bloudek, were transferred to the Planica Museum in 2016.

The collection presents Slovene sport legends such as Mateja Svet, Mitja Petkovšek, Borut and Britta Bilač, Nataša Urbančič, Stanko Lorger, Cveto Pavčič, Bogdan Svet, Mik Pavlovič, Marko Račič, Andrej Jelenc, and others.

There is also a collection of books on the history of sports, a sort of a library yet in the making.

Temporary exhibitions and collaborations

The Slovene Sports Museum often collaborates with other museums and institutions at different projects and exhibitions. One of the bigger ones was the setting up of the Planica Museum, dedicated to the history of ski jumping and flying, located in a newly constructed pavilion in the framework of the Nordic Centre Planica.

The Slovene Sports Museum prepares temporary exhibitions that coincide with international sporting events such as the Soccer World Cup 2002, the Olympics and other world championships, as well as those taking place in Slovenia: the European Championship in Waterpolo 2003 in Kranj; the European Championship of Gymnastics for Men in Ljubljana (2004, with an exhibition on Miro Cerar, Slovenia's most successful Olympic sportsman).

In 2003 alongside the 140th anniversary of the founding of the South Sokol Society, a historical exhibition on this legendary group which marked the beginning of sport manifestations, sport clubs, and important political movements in Slovenia from the early 20th century, etc. took place.

Though the Slovene Sports Museum still holds some material on ski jumping, the majority of it got transferred to the Planica Museum in 2016

See also

• Planica Museum
• Nordic Centre Planica

External links

• Slovene Sports Museum website (in Slovenian)
• Slovene Sports Museum on Visit Ljubljana website
• The Planica Museum website

Gallery

The museum holds quite some materials on the Sokol (from the Slovene word for falcon) movement, an all-age gymnastics organisation founded in 1860s

Though the Slovene Sports Museum still holds some material on ski jumping, the majority of it got transferred to the Planica Museum in 2016