Goriška Museum

Goriška Museum, founded in 1952, is a regional museum, covering the area of historical Goriška region or the part now belonging to Slovenia. Its activities are in the field of history, archaeology, ethnology, art-history, and natural sciences. The museum was founded in 1952, two years later it moved to Kromberk Castle where it has its headquarters and a part of the exhibition premises.

History

The beginnings of institutionalised museum activities in Goriška go back to 1861, when Goriška Provincial Museum was founded in the region's centre Gorica-Gorizia, now in Italy. Its collections presented various remains of the region's past without paying attention to individual ethnicity. Exhibitions organised in that period also carefully avoided all references to the presence of Slovenes in the region. The plan to found a national museum in Goriška, advanced in the early 20th century, was thwarted by the First World War and the collected material was lost. During the Italian occupation of Primorska the idea of establishing a school museum here also had to be abandoned. The present museum came about as a result of conditions after the Second World War, when the new state border between the then Yugoslavia and Italy placed the town of Gorica-Gorizia in Italy and the remaining part of the Goriška region which had previously gravitated towards the town was left without a focus. To replace what was lost, a study library and district museum were established in the fast-growing town of Nova Gorica. Goriška Museum was founded in 1952, initially within the primary school of Solkan. In 1955 it was moved to the restored Renaissance-style Kromberk Castle, an early 17th-century reconstruction of a fortress erected in the first half of the 13th century by Count Henrik of Dornberk. In 1982 the Goriška Museum was grounded as indepedent institution with four proprietors: former Municipality of Nova Gorica, Municipality of Sežana, Municipality of Ajdovščina, Municipality of Tolmin. In 2004 the museum was reorganized by Municipality of Nova Gorica as the only proprietor.

Programme / Mission

Museum carries out museum activities as a public service. In cooperation with the Idrija Municipal Museum, Tolmin Museum and Pilon Gallery, Ajdovščina museum also carries out public service in the field of fine art from the early 20th century onwards. It works in the fields of history, ethnology, archaeology, art history and natural history. It houses conservation and restoration workshop in part of the Villa Bartolomei in Solkan. Goriška Museum Library keeps the basic methodological books of museology, large collection of foreign professional periodical publications, minority periodical publications and books concerning Goriška region. Department of audiovisual documentation and presentation of intangible cultural heritage collects and keeps audiovisual records. Museum has its depots in Ajdovščina.

Venues, branches

Main quarters are in Kromberk Castle. Dislocated units are:Avgust Černigoj Gallery, Lipica; Dobrovo Castle; Memorial Room of Alojz Gradnik, Medana; Museum Collection Ajdovščina; Museum Collection Kolodvor, Nova Gorica; Museum Collection of the Soča Front at Sveta Gora; Villa Bartolomei Museum Collection, Solkan; Guard Tower, Vrtojba; Štanjel Castel with Lojze Spacal Gallery and the Karst House, Štanjel; Memorial Collection od Familly Kosovel, Tomaj; Trenta Lodge TNP Information Centre and Museum; Riko Debenjak Gallery, Kanal; Memorial exhibition, Cerje (under construction).

Collections

Art-historical collection including collection of 143 graphics by Zoran Mušič, art work by August Černigoj, collection of graphic by Lojze Spacal, art work by Riko Debenjak, cultural-historical collection including collection of belongings of Alojz Gradnik, collection of belongings to family Kosovel, historical collection of documents, uniforms, flags, ethnological collection of items of Karst countryside, archaeological collection, natural history collection of fossils.

International Cooperation

Museum cooperates with related cultural institutions in the Italian Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

Exhibitions

The permanent exhibitions are: historic exhibition Primorska 1918–1947 and art-historical exhibition in Kromberk Castle; historic exhibition Goriška between 1918 and 1947, restoration exhibition Preserving the Past for Today and Tomorrow, ethnological and archaeological exhibition Pottery of Goriška and archaeological exhibition Glazed Tiles in Villa Bartolomei Museum Collection; exhibition of graphics of Zoran Mušič; exhibition Castle Collection in Dobrovo – Attempt of Reconstruction, exhibition Trade in Wine and Borders - History of Abuja Brothers Company in Gorica 1899–2009 in Dobrovo Castle; archaeological exhibition Roman Castra, exhibition of fossils from the collection of Stanislav Bačar in Ajdovščina; historical exhibition National Borders in Gorica Region 1945–2004 in Nova Gorica; historical exhibition on life in 1947, when a new state border divided the territory of Goriška into two parts in Vrtojba; exhibition of art work by August Černigoj in Avgust Černigoj Gallery, Lipica; exhibition of graphic by Lojze Spacal in Lojze Spacal Gallery and the Karst House, Štanjel; exhibition on Kosovel family in Tomaj; exhibition on Alojz Gradnik life in Medana; exhibition of art work by eminent Riko Debenjak in Riko Debenjak Gallery. Temporary exhibitions take place in several exhibition grounds.

Publishing / Publications

Research results are published in their own monographic publications and in periodical publication Goriški letnik, published annually since 1974.

External links

Goriška Museum website

The beginnings of institutionalised museum activities in Goriška go back to 1861, when Goriška Provincial Museum was founded in the region's centre Gorica-Gorizia, now in Italy. Its collections presented various remains of the region's past without paying attention to individual ethnicity. Exhibitions organised in that period also carefully avoided all references to the presence of Slovenes in the region. The plan to found a national museum in Goriška, advanced in the early 20th century, was thwarted by the First World War and the collected material was lost. During the Italian occupation of Primorska the idea of establishing a school museum here also had to be abandoned.

The present museum came about as a a result of conditions after the Second World War, when the new state border between the then Yugoslavia and Italy placed the town of Gorica-Gorizia in Italy and the remaining part of the Goriška region which had previously gravitated towards the town was left without a focus. To replace what was lost, a study library and district museum were established in the fast-growing town of Nova Gorica.

Goriška Museum was founded in 1952, initially within the primary school of Solkan. In 1955 it was moved to the restored Renaissance-style Kromberk Castle, an early 17th-century reconstruction of a fortress erected in the first half of the 13th century by Count Henrik of Dornberk. The Trenta Lodge TNP Information Centre and Museum and various other small museums joined the Goriška Museum in 1958, and in the following years the activities of the Goriška Museum spread to the upper Vipava Valley and the Karst, where additional museum collections were arranged.

The two permanent exhibitions in Kromberk Castle are the Gallery of Older Art and the Gallery of 20th-century Artists from Primorska; the other two are the cultural history collection and the lapidary collection in the castle park. The museum also has its own library and manages the Avgust Černigoj Gallery, Lipica, Dobrovo Castle, Lojze Spacal Gallery and the Karst House, Štanjel, the Museum Collection of the Soča Front at Sveta Gora, Trenta Lodge TNP Information Centre and Museum, and the Villa Bartolomei Museum Collection.