100 Years of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum

100 Years of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum

In 2023 we are celebrating an important Jubilee, the centenary of the foundation of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum, the oldest ethnological institution in Slovenia.

The museum’s origins are linked to the Carniolan Provincial Museum (today’s National Museum of Slovenia), which was founded in 1821 and as part of which the Ethnographic Institute was established in 1921 before becoming an independent institution, the Royal Ethnographic Museum, in 1923. The latter is the predecessor of today’s museum.

Over the course of its 100 years of history, the museum has seen many milestones, such as its renaming as the Slovene Ethnographic Museum (SEM) in 1964 and its relocation in 1997 to the southern part of the former military barracks on Metelkova Ulica, where it today occupies two buildings. It is part of an urban cultural centre and meeting place in Slovenia’s capital that is known as the Metelkova Museum Plaza.

The collections in the SEM mainly date from the nineteenth century onwards. They include collections from Slovenia, from ethnically Slovene areas outside the national borders and from areas linked to Slovene emigration. There are also a number of non-European collections. Today the museum holds some 40,000 items, of which around 30,000 are Slovene while 10,000 are from outside Europe.

As a museum “about people, for people”, the SEM is proudly rounding off its first century of activity by presenting its work at a number of thematically diverse exhibitions and events. We invite everyone to come and celebrate with us, to visit us and to continue to discover the treasures of ethnological heritage.

Natalija Polenec, Director