The Earliest
Stories from the Crossroads disclose
the furthest and most mysterious past of the territory of Slovenia, as
evidenced by the archaeological finds from the Paleolithic to the Bronze Age.
The most beautiful and most precious finds from the collection of the National
Museum of Slovenia are on display, from Neanderthal flute, the oldest musical instrument in the world, superior stone and pottery products
from the pile dwellings of the Ljubljansko barje (Ljubljana Marshes), to the
Bled appliqués, the oldest gold objects on Slovenian soil.
The Iron-age
Stories from the Crossroads take us into the
time of great changes that radically marked both the territory of Slovenia and
the wider European arena in the first millennium BC. Demanding metallurgical
technologies, complex artistic figurative works, the beginnings of the monetary
economy and the development of local alphabets...: Most of these phenomena were brought to the territory of
Slovenia and developed here independently centuries before the onset of the Roman period.
The
period during which the territory of present-day Slovenia was part of the
large, well-organized and highly cultivated Roman Empire lasted for about five
centuries; its spiritual legacy is the foundation of Western civilization.
Among the more than a thousand items in the Roman Stories from the Crossroads, a special position is held by the imperial stone inscription dated to
the year 14 or 15, which marked the completion of an important building in
Emona, probably its walls, and represents a first-rate document on how the colony
of Emona was created. Next to the imperial stone inscription you will find the original arrangement of the gilded bronze
statue of an Emona citizen: the statue was part of an outstanding tombstone,
which was obviously inspired by Trajan’s Column in Rome.
The Medieval Stories from the Crossroads continue the museum narrative with exceptional
material dating from the collapse of the Western Roman Empire until the end of
the Middle Ages. Visitors to the museum can view the precious fittings and
jewellery of the inhabitants of that time and learn about their dwellings and habits.
The timeline takes us to an exhibition where you can see the most beautiful and important objects of world significance from the archaeological collection of the National Museum of Slovenia. The stories
that they tell compose a picture of the past on the soil of present-day
Slovenia like the stones of a mosaic, where different worlds collided and
remarkable stories were created.
Special
children’s corners provide youngsters with ways to set off to the different
time periods of these local lands through play.