bg Ljubljana

Slovanian National Museum

- Muzejska Ulica 1 -
The symmetrical two-story building, which was constructed between 1883 and 1885, was built with an educational function for the Carniola Regional Museum. It was built by the Slovenian builder and entrepreneur in collaboration with , who mostly followed the plans of the Viennese architect Wilhelm von Rezori. The interior was designed by Jan Hráský, and the ceiling of the main hall was decorated with that were painted by the painters and , while the space between the medallions was decorated by Karel Lipovšek.
The building during its construction
The new museum building experienced its greatest test on April 14, 1895, at the so-called great Ljubljana . The museum building, which was in use for seven years, had previously been shaken several times by weak pre-earthquake tremors. The then curator Müllner reported on the damage to the building, especially in the museum corridors and rooms and exhibition collections. After the earthquake, scientific work and work on collections stopped, and the museum was closed until the fall of 1895. The damage to the museum building was repaired and was opened to visitors in September 1896.
Damage in the building after the 1895 earthquake
The museum was founded in 1821 as the Estate Museum of Carniola, and five years later, the Austrian Emperor decided to sponsor the museum personally and ordered its renaming to Provincial Museum of Carniola. In 1882, the museum was renamed the Provincial Museum of Carniola - Rudolfinum in honor of Crown Prince . 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 1992, it was renamed the National Museum of Slovenia and became divided into an Archaeological Department, a Numismatic Cabinet, a Department of Prints and Drawings, and a Department of History and the Applied Arts.
A painting created by Heinrich Wettach around 1900 depicting the museum building
At the level of the roof of the Neo-Renaissance building, you can admire several decorative vases and and a on the roof itself. Around the same height, there is also a balustrade that contains the same as the under the second floor windows. The decorations under the roof consist of an motif and two different strips of , one of which is decorated with foliage. The and columns on the second floor are crowned with an Ionic or a Doric , while the ones on the first floor are crowned with only a Doric one. Underneath the that's located between the first and second floor, a lot of can be seen. The that are located on the second floor and one on the first floor are decorated with acanthus foliage, while the rest on the first floor are decorated with .
The building is shown in an old postcard