Koper Regional Museum

Originating in 1911 as the Municipal Museum of History and Art (Museo Civico di Storia e d'Arte), the Koper Regional Museum has been housed since 1954 in the spacious early 17th-century Belgramoni Tacco Palace, and is responsible for the movable cultural heritage in the Primorska region. At its centenary in 2011 the museum opened a new permanent exhibition Between the Serenissima, Napoleon and the Habsburgs and enriched its collection.

Pokrajinski muzej Koper / Museo regionale di Capodistria by Pokrajinski Muzej Koper on YouTube

History

The first initiatives to establish a museum in Koper-Capodistria took place as early as the late 18th century, but the main push for its foundation was provided by the first exhibition of the Istrian Region in Koper (Prima Esposizione Provinciale Istriana) in 1910. One year later the then Municipality of Koper-Capodistria established the Municipal Museum of History and Art (Museo Civico di Storia e d'Arte), and after the First World War the spacious early 17th century Belgramoni Tacco Palace building was set aside for use as a museum.

During the Second World War the permanent collection was seriously impaired when many precious works of art were evacuated to Friuli (Villa Manin in Passariano). When "Zone B" was incorporated into Slovenia in 1954, the museum was renamed the District Museum, and in 1967 its name was changed to The Regional Museum of Koper (Museo Regionale di Capodistria). From 1981–1985 the museum's central building was completely renovated and this made it possible to expand the museum's activities and to rearrange its collections.

Mission

In addition to art and cultural history of the Primorska region, the museum covers the archaeological, historical, ethnological, and cultural heritage of the coastal and karst areas. Important attention is being paid to the participation in cultural, scientific, and educational establishments and associations, with particular emphasis on cooperation with Slovene institutions abroad and Italian and Croatian institutions in Istria and Dalmatia.

Today, the parent museum building presents an archaeological collection and collections covering the history of culture, art and history of Istra from its very beginning to the end of the 19th century. The conservation restoration workshop preserves the museum material and organizes the technical days and workshops at the temporary exhibitions in the context of educational activities.

Venues

The museum manages two satellites; in 1983 the Ethnological Collection of Koper Regional Museum was established as an independent branch and a permanent collection was opened in Prem Castle in 2008, presenting castles and building sites in the Reka river basin.

Collections

The recent permanent exhibition Between the Serenissima, Napoleon and the Habsburgs covers the period from 16h to 19th century and presents some of the most prominent residents such as the bishops Paolo Naldini (1619–1691) and Pier Paolo Vergerio jr. (1498–1565), Santorio Santorio (1561–1636), a doctor and researcher who invented the thermometer, and the writer and historian Gian Rinaldo Carli (1720–1795). The display includes the weapon collection, presented for the first time.

Both the lapidary collection and the open air collection in the palace garden present the oldest material culture of the coastal and karst areas. The culture and art history collection consists of sculptures, paintings and arts and crafts products, arranged in chronological order and by theme, from early medieval sculptures with guilloche ornamentation (9th–11th centuries) to a fresco copy of The Dance of Death from Hrastovlje and inscriptions in the Glagolitic alphabet.

The Pinacotheca presents paintings, sculptures and products of the arts and crafts, complemented by 17th and 18th century furnishings from the Venetian cultural area, while historical material from the 18th and 19th centuries presents some eminent figures from the fields of medicine, pharmacy, the Enlightenment and political life in the Koper area.

The Archaeological collection covers all archaeological periods from prehistory (from palaeolithic to iron age) throughout Roman times to the middle ages in the Primorska region. One of the many significant archaeological finds is also the late Roman coin hoard, which derives from the late Roman army camp on the site Čentur.

In the pavilion along the Museum's lapidary, a collection of the recent history of the Southern Primorska region is presented, the fight for survival in Brkini, Slovenska Bistrica and Istra, portrayed also on Rapallo painting by Tone Kralj, while at Gramsci Square an ethnological collection is on permanent display.

Exhibitions

The museum presents several of its own and travelling exhibitions throughout the year. In 1995–1998 an exhibition of recent history was assembled in the pavilion adjacent to the museum's lapidary collection, presenting the national and political struggle of the Istrian Slovenes and people from Primorje (the coastland) at the turn of the 20th century. This exhibition covers the periods from the national awakening of the Istrian Slovenes before the First World War up to the incorporation of Zone B of the Free Territory of Trieste and the diplomatic struggle for the incorporation of the area into the Slovene homeland (London Memorandum 1954).

In 2010 a joint exhibition With a Fibula into Fable of Koper Museum and several other Slovenian museums (Sergej Mašera Maritime Museum, Goriška Museum, Tolmin Museum, Ptuj – Ormož Regional Museum, Notranjska Museum, Postojna) was prepared in collaboration with the Archaeological Museum of Istria and Civici Musei di Storia ed Arte di Trieste. The exhibition presented brooches which were found in Western Slovene area, adjacent to the Friuli region. It follows the development of fibulae in that area from prehistoric to Roman times and the early Middle Ages. The project was awarded by the Archaeological Society of Slovenia.

External links

Gallery

Prem Castle, built before 1213 with with exterior Renaissance walls and towers, Koper Regional Museum

Koper Regional Museum ,The permanent Archaeology collection is located on the ground floor, with three exhibition spaces opened to the public between 2005 and 2008.

Part of the exhibited ethnological collection, Koper Regional Museum, in the main room of the 1st floor, where a new permanent exhibition entitled Woven Past was built in 2009, which outlines the path from fibres to the final product - clothes

The ethnological collection of the Koper Regional Museum is on display in the Venetian Gothic style house from the 14th Century, located on the outskirts of the former city walls (now Gramscijev market) in Koper

Part of the Archaeology collection at the Koper Regional Museum, Roman period, From an amphora of urns

The Cultural History Collection at Koper Regional Museum, applied art objects and documentary material from the late Middle Ages to the 20th century housed in the palace Belgramoni Tacco

The permanent Cultural History collection, Koper Regional Museum, predominantly 18th and 19th domestic artifacts, representing prominent historical figures in the coastal-Karst region. Napoleon and the Hapsburgs