Curatorial Department of Contemporary History
The Curatorial Department of Contemporary History collects and stores museum material from the area of Dolenjska, covering the period from the beginning of the 20th century up to the present. The department is located in the museum’s administration building and employs two professional historians – curators.
Prior to 1990, the Department of Contemporary History was called Department of National Liberation Struggle and People’s Revolution and it focused on the material associated with the pre-war workers’ movement, and the military and political events in the years 1941–1945.
The first exhibition covering the period of the National Liberation Struggle was opened in 1953 in the Križatija building, a renewed exhibition was opened in the Ropas House in 1965, while the present one has been on display since 1981. There have been some other temporary exhibitions about the time of the National Liberation Struggle, set up in Dolenjske Toplice (on display from 1957 to 1990), the Pleterje monastery (1963-1997) and in the school in Šentjernej (1983-1990).
The department keeps artefacts from that period, along with a relatively rich collection of documentary photographs, numerous documents, and an extensive collection of partisan and enemy press.
Our plans for the future include a renovation of the permanent exhibition in order to give a more balanced coverage of the entire period from the beginning of the 20th century up to the present, providing an overview of the events, milestones and progress of the Dolenjska region within that period.
In the recent years, we have therefore put a special emphasis on collecting material not only from World War II, but also from the periods before and after the war.
