History and development of the museums sector
As elsewhere in Europe, the history of museums in Slovenia is connected with private collections, individual enthusiasts and their attitudes towards the preservation of the past. The founder of Slovene museology is said to be Baron Janez Vajkard Valvasor (1641-1693); a polymath or, more precisely, a historian, geographer, ethnographer, cartographer, naturalist and technician whose private collection included books, graphic art works, antiques, coins and medals, Valvasor became a member of the Royal Society in London in 1687.
In 1821 the Carniolan Provincial Museum was established in Ljubljana, its first collections mostly related to natural science (eg Äiga Zois' collection of minerals). The first permanent museum collection moved in 1888 to a building designed specially for the purpose of storing and exhibiting objects of historical, scientific or cultural interest. In 1898 the first specialised museum institution, the
Slovene School Museum, was founded in Ljubljana. During this period new museums began to appear in other Slovene towns such as Celje (1882), Ptuj (1883), Kamnik (1883), Maribor (1903) and Koper (1911).
The most important museological event between the two World Wars was the establishment of the
National Gallery of Slovenia, an institution which famous Slovene painter Rihard Jakopic had unsuccessfully attempted to found decades earlier. During this inter-war period the Carniolan Provincial Museum was renamed the
National Museum of Slovenia, and in 1923 its ethnographic collections were given a separate home in the Royal Ethnographic Museum, forerunner of today's
Slovene Ethnographic Museum. The establishment of the
City Museum of Ljubljana and the Museum of Ékofja Loka also date from this period.
After World War II and the founding of independent Slovenia, museum activities underwent a period of major development. Covering the whole Slovene area from the outset, the Slovene Museum of Natural History was established in 1944 on the basis of the
National Museum of Slovenia's natural history collections. It was followed in 1948 by the establishment of the
Museum of Modern Art Ljubljana, focusing on modern and contemporary art. The
Technical Museum of Slovenia was set up in 1951 and opened to the public two years later. The subsequent increase in activity concerning the protection of technical heritage also led to the foundation of technical collections in Kropa, Železniki, Ravne and Idrija, where new museums were set up. Specialised museums were also founded during this time, notably the Museum of Film and Theatre Arts, the
Sergej Mašera Maritime Museum, Piran and a range of architectural and other regional museums, including the
Dolenjska Museum, Novo mesto, the
Murska Sobota Regional Museum, Nova Gorica Museum and the
Bela krajina Museum, Metlika. Numerous museums dedicated to World War II and the struggle for national liberation also originated in this period, but after Slovenia separated from Yugoslavia in 1991 to become an independent state, these museums changed their focus to presenting modern Slovene history.
