Dear visitors,
our museum is also slowly coming back. However, as we want to ensure safety for both the visitors of the museum and the employees, we ask you for a little patience to prepare everything necessary for the museum to remain a safe space.
Like most Slovenian museums, we will open our doors after the holidays on Tuesday, 5 May 2020.
We look forward to seeing you soon.
Author: mnzc
Temporary exhibition Herman’s gallery: Earth, a colourful planet
In January 2020 we opened a new temporary exhibition entitled Herman’s gallery: Earth, a colourful planet in Children’s museum Herman’s den.
The Herman’s gallery was created with the acceptance of the International competition for artworks made by children, which was carried out by the Institute for creative development of young people of Mihailo Lišanin for 21 years.
On the occasion of this year’s competition for children aged 6 to 12 we received 632 artworks from 18 different countries. Children participated in two age categories, in each we awarded 10 artworks and granted 50 special recognition awards.
The exhibition features 20 original award-winning artworks, in addition 100 works that received special recognition are on display at the projection. All awarded artworks are also part of museum collection Herman’s gallery.
Exhibition will be opened until 1 March 2020.
Herman the Fox also invites you to participate in the 23rd International competition for artworks made by children, this year entitled “Love”.
Happy holiday season
Happy holiday season and an optimistic year 2020 from the entire crew at the Museum of Recent History Celje!
Temporary exhibition Culture to the People!
In Decembre 2019 we opened a new temporary exhibition entitled Culture to the people!.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Cultural society Svoboda Celje, we present a century-long history of one of the most numerous and active societies in Celje.
The founding member and initiator of the Social democratic cultural society Vzajemnost (Reciprocity), which was soon renamed to Svoboda (Freedom), was Ivan Cankar. The purpose of the society, established in Ljubljana in 1909, was to developed cultural and educational work among Slovenian working-class people through various cultural and sports activities. Svoboda established branches in the industrial centres of Slovenia, including a branch, which was established in Celje in 1919. Svoboda Celje was one of the most active in Slovenia; that is why in 1935 Celje hosted the famous working-class cultural manifestation Zlet Svobod (gathering of different sections of Svoboda) with around 10.000 participants.
After WWII, Svoboda established itself on new foundations and expanded its activities in the field of mass culture. Still, her mission remained the same – to convey culture to the workers and to integrate them into cultural events. In the second half of the 20th century, various sections were active within Celje society, presenting the results of their work at the annual parade Svoboda poje in igra (Svoboda sings and plays). It was the massiveness that was the hallmark of this cultural society; this way of spending leisure time is unimaginable these days, in times of shopping malls, mass media and social networks. The restructuring of Celje industry gradually transformed the traditional working-class, its identity and culture. As a result, at the turn of the century, activity of the society changed dramatically, and Svoboda gradually lost its former role. Today, the functioning of Svoboda Celje is beyond compare with the golden years of the past decades. In the last quarter of the 20th century, the Association of Svoboda Society, of which Celje was also a part, gradually transformed into todays Union of the Cultural Societies of Slovenia.
The phrase “Culture to the people!” was used as a motto on the official letters and publications of the society during the times of socialism.
Temporary exhibition Photo House Pelikan 1899-1919-2019
In September 2019 we opened a new temporary exhibition entitled Photo House Pelikan 1899-1919-2019 in the basement of Pelikan’s House on Razlagova Street 5 in Celje.
This year we mark 120 years since photographer from Celje, Johann Martin Lenz, built an apartment house with an extension – a photographic studio with glass salon (in 1899). After his death, the building came under the ownership of photographer Josip Pelikan, who came to Celje a century ago (in 1919) and stayed and worked here for almost six decades.
The renovated glass atelier, unique in Slovenia and one of the few in Europe, has been an essential part of the Museum of Recent History Celje as Skylight photographic studio of Josip Pelikan for over two decades. In keeping with the remarkable Pelikan legacy, Museum has new plans – the construction of an all-inclusive complete cultural and museum complex, based on Pelikan’s photographic heritage from Celje and its connection to contemporary photographic production and activity, that would allow the visitor to stroll through the history of photography from the end of the 19th century to the present day in a completely authentic environment.
This temporary exhibition, set in the basement of Pelikan’s House on Razlagova Street 5, therefore not only illustrates an outline of its past, but also represents a symbolic beginning of its transformation into the Photo House Pelikan and is only the dawn of the major renovation of the house.
The basement of the Photo House Pelikan is more and more looking like a gallery for contemporary photography, and with planned walks through the apartment we want to present the living culture of a 20th century Celje’s citizen. Visitors will be able to take a walk through the house, through the Pelikan’s workrooms, darkrooms, warehouses and development facilities on the next two Wednesdays (18 September and 25 September) and Saturdays (21 September and 28 September) at 10 am, however only by advanced appointment at the museum.
Exhibition will be opened until end of June 2020.
Summer museum night
18.00-24.00 SUMMER MUSEUM NIGHT / free entrance
18.00 Herman’s workshop for families “Off to space”
18.00-20.00 Photoshooting at the Skylight photographic studio of Josip Pelikan/ summer-night discount
18.00-23.00 Revival of Street of craftsmen and museum pharmacy with museum volunteers and masters of trade
19.00 and 20.00 Stari pisker (Old pot), guided tour
21.00 I feel Slovenia, I feel Celje (program at the occasional exhibition)
18.00-21.00
Opening hours of Skylight photographic studio of Josip Pelikan in Razlagova ulica 5
18.00-24.00
Special offer in the museum shop (50% discount on publications MnZC)
International Museum Day
On the occasion of the International Museum Day, on 18 May 2019, we invite you to our museum, where you can see all permanent and occasional exhibitions free of charge from 9am to 1pm.
As early as 1977, the International Council of Museums ICOM marked the International Museum Day in order to increase the visibility of museums in society and its development.
Over 40,000 museum institutions in more than 158 countries of the world are joining the celebration each year. Among them is Slovenia with its network of diverse museums and galleries.
The theme of this year’s International Museum Day is: Museums as Cultural Hubs: The future of tradition.
Newspaper, first imprint of history
In the gallery of the Museum of Recent History Celje the exhibition Newspaper, first imprint of history – a selection from the collection of old newspapers and magazines of Ali Žerdin, is on display.
At the exhibition you can see the selection of 80 domestic and foreign covers from Museum of print, as author Ali Žerdin addresses his collection of old newspapers. The first part of the exhibition is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War, the second to the world leaders, and the third to the personalities of rock music.
You can visit the exhibition free of charge until 26 May 2019.
Occupation borders 1941-1945
On March 6th 2019 two temporary exhibitions “Border stones, barbed wire, guard towers and minefields. Life on the occupation boundaries in Slovenia, 1941-1945” and “Rogaška Slatina as the border town of the Third Reich, 1941-1945” were opened at the Museum of Recent History Celje.
The exhibitions that were created within the project: “Make this land German … Italian … Hungarian … Croatian! The role of occupation borders in antislovenian politics and in the life of Slovene population”, have examined how the occupying borders, barbed wire and minefields affected the lives of people along the border and what consequences they left behind.
First exhibition presents all the border areas of occupation in Slovenia during the Second World War and their characteristics and peculiarities, while the second is oriented much more locally.
Exhibitions will be opened until March 31st 2019.
Check out the photo gallery (click!).
