The best museums Northwest

Seeing the castle is like spotting Bled. When Henry II offered the city to the bishops of Brixen in 1004, the castle did not look like this. It then consists of a Romanesque tower and an enclosure wall. Over the centuries, the work was completed. The small chapel dates from the 16th century, the frescoes are made in the 18th century. The restoration of the castle was undertaken in the 1950s. From the terrace, you can enjoy a beautiful panoramic view of the lake. The museum traces the history of Bled from the earliest times to the present day.

This is the museum of the herdsmen, shepherds and shepherdesses living up there on the mountain from mid-June to the end of October. It is located in an old cheese dairy that was active until 1967 and features a reconstructed sheepfold, old photographs that have become an ethnographic treasure, wooden butter moulds, snowshoes and beautifully carved swells. It reveals the strong dairy identity of the region, which has declined considerably in intensity in recent decades. Interesting without being unavoidable.

It is unique in Slovenia. Bees and honey from the origins (or almost) to nowadays become familiar to you. The museum also has a fine collection of hive panels with religious motifs at the very beginning and humorous and satirical motifs at the end. It is also a strange hive as that of a lion or a Turk smoking his pipe. The children are amazed by the activity of the museum's hive. This hive with transparent panels allows you to visualize the activity of a colony. Numerous educational workshops, documents in French. A great success!

From December 1943 to May 1945, the gorges hosted a hospital built for partisans (Yugoslav resistance fighters). The health facility is named after Dr. Franja Bojc-Bidovec, who became Chief Medical Officer in January 1944. The 578 injured people who stayed here are blindfolded from the farm Podnjivč (opposite the current car park). The march in the waters was intended to avoid encountering German soldiers. This hospital had a very low mortality rate (13%). German troops, despite two attacks, never succeeded in bringing down this almost untraceable site. Nine French people were treated, but also Austrians, Italians, Poles, Soviets and Americans. The path along the river at the foot of the cliffs immediately brings you into the atmosphere: the further you go, the narrower the gorges. We finally saw the first barracks. It is not a museum in the conventional sense of the term but rather an immersion. We discover the barracks dedicated to the operating room, the radiology barracks, the quarantine room, the doctors' and injured people's room, the canteen, the dormitories covered with Yugoslav propaganda posters (you will be surprised by their number!), etc. At the bottom of the gorge, there is even a micro hydroelectric power station. It is a striking dive into the history and lives of these men in times of war. You will not leave this place completely unscathed.

Established in the south of the town, in the hamlet of Pustal, this period house, bordered by the local river, dating from the 16th century, now houses a small local and ethnographic museum which gives a number of interesting insights into the objects and gestures of daily life in the days when Slovenia was still a Habsburg country. Restored in 1755, it was deliberately baroque. It is one of the few surviving examples of the last centuries in this region. A very appreciated visit by the locals!

The only hut spared by the Nazi arson attack of 1944, this house has become a museum presenting the traditional life and architecture of Velika Planina. It succinctly presents the main stages of the daily life of the cowherds through the ages. The interior of the hut thus consists of two distinct parts: a living space and a space to shelter the cattle. The large fire in the middle of the dwelling is intended to warm hearts and light the hearth. There is an interesting collection of clothing and customary objects.

The museum is housed in a typical alpine house built in the 18th century. In Baroque style, however, this residence did not belong to the common people. The visit allows you to discover an interesting collection of painted chests and the "black kitchen", a room reserved for cooking where meat was smoked. In the attic, cabinet-making equipment and linen looms. In the basement, an art gallery presenting Josip Vandot (1884-1944), the local child, creator of the character of Kekec, the shepherd.

In 1997, the museum was awarded the prize for Best European Technical and Industrial Museum. The castle was built in 1523. A fortress against Ottoman aggression, it became the headquarters of the mining administration until 1940. Its remarkable arcaded courtyard now hosts cultural evenings. Unequal quality of the permanent exhibition. The first part, located on the first floor, highlights extracts of local rocks and gems without providing any explanation in a language other than Slovenian. As you continue your itinerary through the museum, you fall in admiration for an impressive mineralogical and petrographic collection that also lacks context. The second part of the exhibition offers an intelligible and concise contextualization, in English, of the exploitation of mercury in the region through its discoverers, the working conditions it requires, its key personalities and its inexorable decline. This transition makes it possible to introduce a last floor of exhibition very rich in information about the 20th century in Idrija: the occupations it has undergone, the particular role of the supporters, the essential place of Idrija lace in the local heritage. The last rooms, where we must praise the effort of interactivity, allow us to get a more precise and global idea of the interest of mercury in our daily lives. As you will have understood, the visit is essential to better understand the specificity of Idrija.

Housed in a 500-year-old building that once housed the store and workshop for the famous gingerbread (1766), you'll find candles and honey cakes in the shape of hearts and St. Nicholas. The workshop-boutique is unique in that it's the only place where you can actually see the old-fashioned decoration of these famous gingerbreads. You can also buy unusual souvenirs (little houses, stars, Christmas trees...). The gingerbread can also be named after you or anyone you like. A great family experience!

This is the museum dedicated to hostages. The manor house "welcomed" no less than 12,000 people within its old walls during the Second World War. It was a major Gestapo prison. The cells carry the blood and tears of the former prisoners, who will certainly leave you speechless for many minutes. In the park, a memorial honours the disappearance of many of these prisoners, tortured or shot in and around the courtyard, nearly a thousand people. A poignant visit.

Mainly devoted to the front of the Soča (Isonzo, in Italian) and to the offensives launched in this sector by the Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies between 1915 and 1917. Located in the Mašera House, built in 1739, a building with Mediterranean and Alpine character, the museum was awarded the Valvasor Prize in 1992 and the Council of Europe Prize the following year. In the entrance hall, the intention of the authors is expressed from the outset. Man and his sufferings, whatever his origin, are placed at the centre of History. That is why the flags of the various peoples and nations involved in this tragedy are lined up side by side. In the halls, models of Mount Kern and the upper valley provide a better understanding of the advance and positioning of the troops. The dark room with its pictures of dead bodies is shocking. The white room retraces the soldier's fight against the natural elements, snow, ice, fog. Rommel (1891-1944), a future "desert fox" with his Afrikakorps in 1941, served as a lieutenant on the front line of the Soča. In his Diary, the sketches illustrate Mengore's three-day breakthrough into the Nadiža Valley. In the reconstructed shelter, you will listen to a recording of a letter from a soldier to his father. A 22-minute film projection in French allows us to "relive" the unfolding of these events, which had a terrible toll: 300,000 dead and 700,000 wounded! A monument of history.

Bad tongues will say that France Prešeren will have lived in Kranj only in the twilight of her life. Anyway, this small museum dedicated to the poet retraces his artistic and political commitment throughout his life. Some original manuscripts can also be found here. Exposure is fairly short and takes only a few dozen minutes. One by one, the rooms of his final resting place are discovered. It is still celebrated every February 8th all over the city.

The museum presents the history of the historical region of Gorenjska with a permanent exhibition based on scenes of local daily life through the ages. We discover the dominant place of the iron market in the economic development of the region, before its collapse after the industrial revolution and the progressive exclusion of the Carniola from the main railway routes in the 19th century. The twentieth century is dealt with more quickly, but gives a clearer picture of the region's role at the time of the two world conflicts.

This former summer residence of the Coronini-Cromberg family houses the Municipal Museum. Heavily damaged during the Second World War, it was rebuilt in the late 1970s. A beautiful setting, with its garden and small park that welcomes many couples for civil wedding ceremonies. Musical events also take place there. A visit to the museum is not necessarily a must but can be a nice alternative in case of bad weather.

It is largely dedicated to Zoran Mušič (painter born in 1909) who donated 134 works during Slovenia's independence. Arrested by the Gestapo in 1944, interned in Dachau, he traces in an overwhelming way the tragedy of the death camps through the series Nous ne sommes pas les derniers (années 1970). The artist died in Venice in 2005 at the age of 96. Nostalgia with photos of Elvira de Baguer, daughter of the last owner of the place. The Knights Hall (1550) hosts one classical music concert per month.

This charming museum will give you an overview of the last two millennia of world pharmacy, with a special emphasis on its development on Slovenian territory. It contains more than 2,000 exhibits: pharmacy equipment from the 18th and 19th centuries, a collection of decorated ceramic vessels for storing medicines, a pharmacy, an alchemy laboratory, a collection of mortars, as well as a number of period scales and weights.

The permanent exhibition is based on the history of the museum, but also on the dangers and joys of mountaineering. Rewarded with the Živa Prize for the best Slavic museum in 2017, we can't say that this prize is usurped! Indeed, the permanent exhibition is structured around several thematic rooms that are very well documented and accessible to all types of public. Very complete development on mountain fauna and flora. The museum offers several additional activities: simulating a night in a bivouac or how to react to a storm in the mountains.

Producing delicious cheeses for centuries, the Planika cheese dairy houses the "From the mountains to Planika" cheese museum. The heritage of the alpine pastures is presented with ethnological exhibits, documentary films and the reconstruction of the mountain building with all the milk processing equipment. The store offers the famous Tolminc cheese, as well as typical national handicrafts.

Housed in Coronini's baroque manor house, this museum showcases the valley's rich cultural, spiritual and memorial heritage. Not to be missed: the archaeological remains, the insistence on the central place of iron in the economy of the region in the Middle Ages or the very instructive zoom on the largely unknown municipal peasant revolt that took place in 1713. Temporary exhibition on the metal festival with beautiful photographs. To complete the visit, go to the place where the foundations of a Roman villa were uncovered.

A museum opened in the fall of 2018 dedicated to the history of the famous Slovenian winter sports brand, Elan. It is nothing less than the first ski manufacturer in the world to open a museum to its glory. The chronological and thematic exhibition focuses on the innovations and diversification implemented by the brand. We follow the commercial epic of this company throughout the rooms. A little extra: a ski simulation workshop!