The best museums Northeast

The Counts of Celje are of particular interest in building Slovenia's identity, as evidenced by the inclusion of the three stars of the Counts of Celje on the national flag. The exhibition begins in the basement with a visit to Celeia, the "Slovenian Pompeii". The tour is structured around a walk through the ancient city with a very successful effect. The central location of the city on the European trade routes is thus highlighted. The first floor is full of remarkable tools from the prehistoric period. Children will be amazed by the exceptional fossil of a bear from ancient times. Parents will be made aware of the fundamental role of the pioneer of Slovenian paleontology Srečko Brodar. The second part of the exhibition is devoted to the political career of the Counts of Celje, the noble dynasty that gave its first autonomy to a large part of the Proto-Slovenian territory. The family tree will help you to better understand the family context and to identify the development of a powerful network of matrimonial alliances. The map of castles provides a number of indications of the princely power in the 14th century. The memorial that groups together the skulls of the Counts of Celje is striking. The museum is extremely well designed, the didactic content is very readable and the interest of the young public is real: children will be able to confront each other with a wooden sword or discover the content of classic meals in the Middle Ages.

The castle was bought by the commune in 1933. Five years later, the premises of the bastille, built in 1556, housed the first collections. The 17th century Loreto Chapel, the arcaded corridor, the four towers, the Knights' Hall and the rococo staircase were built under the orders of the Counts Khisli. The remains of the 3rd millennium BC can be visited on the first floor. The miniatures made are very interesting to better understand the evolution of the habitat during the prehistoric period. The second room offers a more condensed content on the period of Roman domination and the blossoming of the Slavic tribes in the 7th century. On the first floor, there is a presentation of the work from the glassworks and forges of Pohorje. The atmosphere is surreal in the loggia with Greco-Roman statues and Jewish steles from the 14th century when Glavni Trg comes alive with folk music during the Lent festival.

Afterwards, we visit the exhibition dedicated to the Middle Ages in Maribor. The rapid growth of the city and its great prosperity were disrupted by a period of untimely war and deadly epidemics. A beautiful perspective of religious plurality and a beautiful life-size reconstruction of a medieval settlement in a rural area. Finally, the modern part of the exhibition is more thematic and focuses on the pictorial representations of the city's elites as well as on the evolution of women's fashion between the mid-19th and late 20th centuries.

Housed in the bishop's residence, this exhibition mainly features religious objects from daily life in the 18th and 19th centuries. Among the curiosities are nearly a thousand devotional cards. The second part of the museum proposes a more classical ethnographic approach around major themes such as pottery or watchmaking. Don't miss the surprising collection of postcards from the beginning of the last century.

The emergence of Velenje as a town in its own right is largely due to the presence of coal mines on its soil. You will descend 180 m underground to discover the life of the miner by taking the more than a century old cage. Be reassured! A beautiful adventure towards these numerous staged scenes. Eighteen scenes from the daily life of miners are presented one by one. The underground railway is one of the must-see features of the visit, as is the captivating development of the workers' social life.

Presents the works of Jakob Soklič, a priest in Slovenj Gradec from 1933. The museum also presents furniture, paintings and sculptures... A sort of Ali Baba's cave, this collection is due to the great work of collectors operated by Soklič. It highlights objects that bear witness both to the sumptuous past and to everyday life in Carinthia. Beautiful room on the predominance of local crafts in the economy of the region. A play is also devoted to the work and legacy of Fran Ksaver Meško (1874-1964), a local poet and playwright.

This ecomuseum tells us about the tradition of hop growing in the region. Let us recall here that Slovenia is the fifth largest producer of this herbaceous plant in the world! We discover the main stages in the production of this "green gold": harvesting, drying and processing. Very instructive, the visit ends with a video that shows us in an interactive and pleasant way the particularities of the hop picker's work. Small point about the great beers of the country too.

The regional museum is housed in the Renaissance castle of Brežice. Originally a fortress designed to resist Turkish attackers, the castle became a palace in the Baroque period. Its frescoed hall, the largest in the country, is a masterpiece. The painter is said to have painted himself. The chapel and staircase are also painted. Scenes from Greek and Roman mythology abound. Classical music concerts are held here in summer.

The museum boasts an interesting archaeological collection, including a number of skeletons, such as that of an Illyrian soldier (500 B.C.) found in his tomb, complete with equipment and horse harness ornaments. In Dobova, 420 graves have been identified. In Roman times, Drnovo, near Brežice, was an important Roman settlement (4,000 inhabitants).

In the ethnological section, visitors can discover the life of the people of Posavje and their style of dress, thanks to the furniture, pottery and glass paintings on display. One room is devoted to viticulture. In the middle stands a klapotec, used to ward off birds. More recent history, too, is recounted at length through the deeds of the resistance. The museum also boasts the first translation of the Bible into Slovene by Jury Dalmatin in 1584, and a sledge belonging to Empress Maria Theresa. One room is dedicated to the work of Franjo Stiplovšek, who launched the museum in 1949.

The museum is housed in the former Altenburg castle dating from the th century, the former possession of the counts of Celje, who also houses the music school today. The museum highlights the importance of wood-related activities in the valley, especially wood flotation, carpenters'work… During the visit, the scents of wood and sawdust are present at any time. A pretty little museum ideally located opposite the local wood company.

Housed in a bourgeois villa in the town centre, the National Liberation Museum offers visitors a glimpse of the Maribor of the Second World War through a collection of archival objects. We discover or rediscover the different stages through which the population of north-eastern Slovenia went: Nazi occupation, Germanisation of the population, organisation of the resistance from 1941 to the end of the war. Very informative and well documented.

This museum is a condensation of all the specifics of Rogaška Slatina by the presence of five permanent exhibitions on the topics of glass making, local history and cultural life, thermal water, lithographic archives, as well as a collection on the Karađorđević dynasty that ruled in Yugoslavia from the end of the 19th century until 1941. Despite this diversity, the exhibition rooms are small and will not keep you busy for more than an hour. The reception is available for further explanation if needed.

It was here that the famous UN-sponsored international plastic arts exhibitions were held in 1966, 1975, 1979, 1985 and 1991. The first floor features a collection of African art. On the second floor, the focus is on works by local sculptor Franc Bernecker and painter Jože Tisnikar. In the gallery's atrium, Guillaume Apollinaire is seen by Ossip Zadkine. Contemporary art is on show in all its forms. Enlightened art-lovers find their way in. For the uninitiated, the risk of coldness is great.

From the th century, he hosts the museum. With a court with arcades, it has been under this aspect since 1885.

What could be more normal that the birthplace of the composer Hugo Wolf became the seat of the music school! Born in 1860, the musician made the town proud by freely drawing inspiration from Schubert's work and proposing an innovative style, the lied. The house where the artist was born is worth seeing for its beautiful conservation but also for the beauty it exudes. Wolf's collection of objects that have belonged to him is quite modest and may disappoint.