International activity in museums sector
Slovene museums are already engaged in extensive international activity, but most of this is the product of bilateral connections between individual Slovene museums and similar institutions abroad. Co-operation with foreign museums has - often at the initiative of foreign diplomatic missions - become a common way of promoting other cultures in Slovenia and that of Slovenia's abroad. Notable amongst the larger foreign exhibitions hosted recently by Slovene museums are 'Leonardo da Vinci - Scientist, Inventor, Artist', the most popular exhibition, at display at the
National Museum of Slovenia between November 1999 and March 2000, and the exhibition 'Bionika', which was prepared by the
Technical Museum of Slovenia in co-operation with the Provincial Museum of Work and Technology in Mannheim. The
Slovene Ethnographic Museum, which houses Slovene and equally important non-European collections, has organised a number of important bilateral co-operation projects. The 'European Rings' exhibition (2003) of 223 rings from the Ethnographic Museum in Budapest was based on a Bilateral Agreement on Co-operation in Culture signed between Slovenia and Hungary. In 2002 the Ethnographic Museum in Budapest also hosted 'Love is in the Air', an exhibition of love gifts in the Slovene tradition conceived by the Slovene Ethnographic Museum in 2000, which had successfully toured to Finland and had also been invited to Croatia, Czech Republic and Bulgaria. A small exhibition of watercolours featuring national costumes from the Ethnographic Museum in Sofia, Bulgaria, was presented in Slovenia in 2003.
The
City Museum of Ljubljana co-operates with other city museums in European capital cities, while the
Museum of Natural History of Slovenia organises regular exhibition exchanges with the Prague National Museum and the Natural History Museum in Zagreb, Croatia.
Ptuj Regional Museum co-operates with the City Museum of Sarajevo, among others. The
Sergej Mašera Maritime Museum, Piran co-operates with Museum Correr in Venice, while the
Slovene Coal Mining Museum, Velenje boasts excellent co-operation with a number of similar museums in the region, including the Bergbau Iron Ore Mine and Museum in Huttenberg, the Mining Museum in Bad Bleiberg and the Geological Lead Mine Museum in Cave del Predil, Italy. There have been relatively few institutional contacts or government-to-government exchanges. Notable exceptions are the co-operation with ICOM and the MATRA project, devised in association with the Dutch Museum Association, a successful co-operative project of the Ministries of Culture of Slovenia and Netherlands with the aim of providing museum management courses for Slovene museums staff (1997-2003). There is a great deal of potential for future international exchange activity.
The
Technical Museum of Slovenia is an active partner in the Central European Union of Technical Museums. The Union organises annual meetings of museum professionals and is currently preparing a Dictionary of Scientists and Inventors of all the member countries (seven at the time of writing). The
Technical Museum of Slovenia is also a member of the European Collaborative on Science and Technology Centres (ECSITE). The
Slovene Coal Mining Museum, Velenje is a member and co-founder of the Union of Underground Mining Museums. This museum enjoys close co-operation with sister institutions in the Austrian cities of Bad Eisenkappel, Hüttenberg and Bad Bleiberg and the Italian town of Predil. The
Celje Museum of Contemporary History is a member of the European Association of Museums of the History of Medical Sciences. The
Sergej Mašera Maritime Museum, Piran is a member of the International Congress of Maritime Museums (ICMM) and the Association of Mediterranean Maritime Museums (AMMM). In September 2002 it organised the 11th International Congress of ICMM. Along with museums from Greece, Portugal and Bulgaria, the
Sergej Mašera Maritime Museum, Piran is a partner in the international project ‘All About Salt'. The
Museum of Natural History of Slovenia has organised several international meetings covering various topics. Finally, the
City Museum of Ljubljana is an active member of the
European Museum Forum (EMF) and the director of the museum is one of EMF’s board members.
'Towards Museums of the Future' was also a common title of the plenary session of three ICOM International Committees conferences, bringing together the International Committee for the Training of Personnel (ICTOP), the International Committee for Museums of Science and Technology (CIMUSET) and the International Committee for Marketing and Public Relations (MPR). They were held in Ljubljana in September 2003 and were attended by more than 130 participants from all over the world.
At the beginning of 2003, the British agency Re:Source, the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries initiated research for 'Mapping the Infrastructures of the Museums, Archives and Libraries', which was conducted by Visiting Arts and Slovene experts. The research tackled current issues in the Slovene museums sector: staffing, building management, collections policy, preservation and restoration, documentation and the application of computer technology, exhibitions, education and outreach, public relations, marketing and sponsorship and international collaboration and exchange. The research indicated great interest among Slovene museologists for co-operation with international museums, especially on a professional level in the form of personal contacts, exhibitions and professional exchanges. Skills and expertise, particularly in the field of conservation and restoration, could be important focus of internships and placements in museums abroad, as well as management, marketing and fundraising training. Cultural tourism development potentially offers great opportunities to Slovene museums. Museums in Slovenia are endeavouring to respond to the universal phenomenon of increasing globalisation, as well as to the fast expansion of new technologies and communications, with a view to promoting and spreading knowledge about culture, history and cultural diversity.
