- Location: Mala dvorana
This historical exhibition focuses on the German air raids on Novo mesto during World War II in 1941 and 1943, focusing on the city, its streets and buildings. We ask whether the wounds and damage of the war and the post-war reconstruction drive changed the pre-war image of the city so much that it is no longer recognisable. The heavily demolished city demanded a planned and thoughtful reconstruction as soon as possible. As early as 1944, the architect Božidar Gvardijančič drew up a proposal for a reconstruction plan for the town centre.
After the war, when the reconstruction of the city centre actually began, the work was continued by architects Herman Hus and Marjan Mušič. The latter left an indelible mark on the reconstruction of the city.
The exhibition highlights the areas of the city where the attacks were most severe, presenting them with documentary photographs and urban planning documents from the pre-war, war and post-war periods, and comparing them with the situation today. We use objects related to the bombing to draw attention to the need to preserve movable cultural heritage in order to understand and present the period and events to our descendants. We also remember the senseless victims of the bombing and preserve them in our memory. The presentation is rounded off with an art historical overview of the work of artists in the first decade after the war and the design of the city’s main NOB monument, Na vrataih.
The exhibition is complemented by a video projection including an excerpt from the film Novo mesto 1941 by Ivan Marinček and audio-video content with selected diary and memoirs of Novo mesto residents who witnessed the tragic events. We also touched upon the danger of unexploded ordnance, the invisible memories of war that still haunt us today.
