National Museum of Slovenia

The Museum Building in Ljubljana where the National Museum of Slovenia and the Slovenian Museum of Natural History are located.

The National Museum of Slovenia (Slovene: Narodni muzej Slovenije) is located in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It is situated in the Center district of the city near the Tivoli Park.

Along with the Slovenian Museum of Natural History, located in the same building, the National Museum of Slovenia is the country's oldest scientific and cultural institution. The museum has an extensive collection of archaeological artefacts, old coins and banknotes (in the numismatics department on the ground floor) and displays related to the applied arts.

History

The museum was founded in 1821 by the as the "Estate Museum of Carniola" (German: Krainisch Ständisches Museum). Five years later, the Austrian Emperor Francis I decided to personally sponsor the museum and ordered its renaming to "Provincial Museum of Carniola". In 1882, the museum was renamed to "Provincial Museum of Carniola - Rudolfinium" in honour of the Crown Prince Rudolph.

After the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the name was changed to "National Museum". In 1923 the ethnographic collections possessed by the museum were removed and placed in the new Slovene Ethnographic Museum and in 1933 much of its fine artwork was moved to the National Gallery of Slovenia. In 1944, the Slovenian Museum of Natural History (then known as the Museum of Natural Sciences) became independent despite being located in the same building. In 1946 the majority of archives has been removed to the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia. Renamed to National Museum of Slovenia in 1992, today the museum is divided into Archaeological Department, a Numismatic Cabinet, a Department of Prints and Drawings and a Department of History and the Applied Arts.

The building

The current building, designed in a Neo-Renaissance style by the Slovene architect Viljem Treo, was built between 1881 and 1885. The interior decorations were made by the painters Janez and Jurij Šubic. A monument to the Carniolan polyhistor Janez Vajkard Valvasor, designed by the sculptor Alojz Gangl, was placed in front of the Museum in 1904. The National Museum is located close to the Slovenian Parliament building and the Slovenian Foreign Ministry, while the Ljubljana opera house stands just opposite to it on the same square.

Famous directors and collaborators

• Karel Dežman
• Josip Mal
• Avgust Pirjevec
• Simon Rutar
• Boris M. Gombač

External links

• Ljubljana.info - National Museum

Coordinates: 46°3′7″N 14°29′59″E / 46.05194°N 14.49972°E / 46.05194; 14.49972