National Museum of Contemporary History

An exterior of the National Museum of Contemporary History located in the Baroque Cekin Mansion in Tivoli Park in Ljubljana, 2014.

The National Museum of Contemporary History originated in 1944 as the Scientific Institute of the Executive Committee of the National Liberation Front (IOOF) and subsequently became the Museum of National Liberation (1948). In 1952, it was relocated to Cekin Mansion, situated in Ljubljana's Tivoli Park, where it still resides today. In 1962, it became the Museum of the People's Revolution, acquiring its current name only in 2003.

It houses collections of items from World Wars I and II, as well as from the period between the wars, the era of socialism, and the later formation of the new Slovene state. It has a branch in Brestanica in the Rajhenburg Castle.

Mission

The National Museum of Contemporary History is a state museum responsible for the movable and intangible cultural heritage of 20th-century Slovene history. It houses a fine art and documentation department, a photographic department containing more than a million original photographs, a conservation–restoration workshop, an administration department and a library.

Collections

The museum's collections include weapons, military equipment, numismatics, textiles, medals, and decorations, plaques, postcards, photographs, films and videos, badges and signs, rubber stamps, seals and printing blocks, philately, and cartography. A fine art collection, a collection of personal items and documents, and of gifts to the former president Milan Kučan are worth mentioning as well. In 2009, the Slovene Police donated about 30 pieces of weapons from World War II and from other violent skirmishes in Slovene history.

One of the most impressive collections is the comprehensive archive of the photo-reporter Edi Šelhaus (1919–2011) with 2,026 original b/w negatives from World War II and over 137,000 original b/w and colour photographs as well as slides and negatives, donated by the author (in 2000) and his main employee, the Delo Publishing House (in 2009).

Exhibitions

Of particular note is the permanent exhibition Slovenes in the 20th Century, opened in 1996 and revised several times, which illustrates the history of Slovenes from 1914 until the present day. The exhibition presents Slovene economic, political, and cultural history in its broadest sense. In addition to turning points in history, such as wars and the foundation of the new state, the exhibition also attempts to illustrate everyday life alongside historical developments. Because of this exhibition, the museum was nominated for the European Museum of the Year Award in 1998.

Some previous temporary exhibitions include We never imagined such a war (World War I through personal stories, 2014), You get the Moon, we get the Gold on the 1970 FIBA World Championship hosted by Ljubljana (2013), Unite, Unite Poor Peasants: persecution of farmers in Slovenia 1945–1955 (2009), The World of Music in the 60s – on the 90th Anniversary of the Photojournalist Edi Šelhaus (2009) about the first Yugoslav jazz festivals between 1960 and 1963 and festivals of popular songs in the 1960s, and memorial exhibitions dedicated to Jože Pučnik and Janez Drnovšek (2008).

In 2013, the National Museum of Contemporary History hosted the popular GOTO 1982 exhibition on computer history. The exhibits came from the Slovene Computer Museum, the Technical Museum of Slovenia, Peek&Poke Museum from Croatia, and Arnes Institute.

Commemorating the centenary of WWI, the temporary exhibition We never imagined such a war was on view up to May 2015. It was based on 13 personal stories that captured the weight of time between 1914 and 1918. The Multimedia Department of the Ministry of Defence in collaboration with the National Museum of Contemporary History and the Park of Military History Pivka released the documentary World War I and the Slovenians. The documentary was also awarded with the Bronze sword at the International Military Film Festival in Warsaw and at the Military Documentary Film Festival: The army and people in Rome.

Slovenci in prva svetovna vojna / World War I and the Slovenians by Muzej novejše in sodobne zgodovine Slovenije on YouTube

International cooperation

The museum also prepares exhibitions for touring, for example, the exhibition The Making of Slovenia, which toured to Dublin in 2002, and the exhibition Culture in the National Liberation War, which travelled to Sgonicco near Trieste in 2003. The exhibition entitled There over the Hills is like here, European Themes of Slovene History, accompanied by multilingual catalogues, also toured. The borrowing of museum objects and documents is possible in accordance with state regulations.

From November 2012 to October 2016, the National Museum of Contemporary History participated in the 4-year project EuroVision: Museums Exhibiting Europe (EMEE) in order to establish new creative concepts for audience development. The project was supported by the Culture Programme of the European Commission, and led by the University of Augsburg, Department of History Didactics.

Publications and lectures

The temporary exhibitions are accompanied by catalogues. In addition, the museum publishes its newsletter Museum News twice a year (in Slovenian and English), also available online, and monographs on Slovene recent history, like The Making of Slovenia (in English) in 2009, and video and electronic media, such as Art Collection: Authors and their Works (in Slovenian and English) in 2007.

The museum houses the renovated Knights' Hall with 30 seats, which is suitable for screenings and lectures.

Odvoz tanka / Farewell pink tank by Muzej novejše in sodobne zgodovine Slovenije on YouTube

External links

Gallery

The Cekin Mansion at night. National Museum of Contemporary History, 2012.

The tank from the Ten-Day War in Slovenia (1991) in front of the National Museum of Contemporary History. On the eve of the International Women's Day in 2012 it was sprayed pink by the unknown activists and became a new popular landmark in Ljubljana. It is owned by the Military Museum of Slovenian Armed Forces and was transferred to the Park of Military History Pivka only a few months after the action. The pink paint was removed.

The National Museum of Contemporary History located at the Cekin Mansion in Park Tivoli, Ljubljana, since 1952. As captured in 2013.

Panoramc view of the National Museum of Contemporary History housed in the Cekin Mansion, 2013.

The old street game 'Ristanc' in front of the National Museum of Contemporary History, 2013.

Cekin Mansion, a 18th century building based on plans by the Viennese Baroque architect Fischer von Erlach, located in Tivoli Park in Ljubljana. Today the mansion houses the National Museum of Contemporary History, 2014.

A Baroque Cekin Mansion in park Tivoli in Ljubljana, since 1951 housing the National Museum of Contemporary History, 2014.

France Cerar's photo documentation presented at the National Museum of Contemporary History, 2014

An opening ceremony at the National Museum of Contemporary History in Ljubljana. A temporary exhibition presented France Cerar's photo documentation, 2014.