Archival records – from medieval parchment charters, manuscript codices, written or cadastral records, plans, maps, legacies, photographs and films to contemporary digital records on various media – are irreplaceable witnesses to events taking place in days gone by and an essential part of our cultural heritage and national memory. As guardians of such treasuries of memory, the Archives prepares and holds physical and virtual exhibitions to promote Slovenian archival heritage and bring it closer to the general public.

Archives as Treasuries of Memory

Over the course of the last two decades, the Archives has held a number of  interesting exhibitions, commemorating important turning points in the history of the Slovenian nation and exploring various subjects, from the mysterious world of freemasonry to the idea of archives as treasuries of a nation’s memory. But no matter the subject described, such exhibitions have always been an opportunity to showcase the finest and the most significant documents kept by the Slovenian national archive among its archival collections.     

Included among some of the major exhibitions staged by the Archives over the last two decades are the following: 

• Slovenian Film Archives at the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia – Fifty Years (1968-2018) (2018)
• The Secret of the Lodge. Freemasonry in the Slovenian Territory (2017)
• 60 Years of the Book and Paper Conservation Centre (2016)
• What is Written Remains. 70 Years of the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia (2015)
• Archives – Treasuries of Memory (2014)
• Davorin Jenko (1835-1914) – Life and Work on the Centenary of his Death (2014)
• One Million 289 Thousand and 369 Times YES for Independent Slovenia (2010)
• “When My Father Died” Drawings and Testimonies of Children from Italian Concentration Camps on the Eastern Border (1942-1943) (2010)
• Carniolan Provincial Privileges 1338-1736 (2008)
• Slovenian Towns Through Time (2003)
• From Dreams to Reality: Development of Slovenian Statehood (2001)
• Sigismund of Herberstein: the Discoverer of Russia: 16^th Century in Russia and in Slovenian Lands (2000)

Virtual Exhibitions

To promote the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia and its archival holdings in virtual environment, the Archives has since January 2011 also been publishing a monthly online column Archivalia of the Month. Presented in the column are documents that are particularly interesting visually or content-wise, as well as some newly acquired documents or those that might have so far been overlooked.  

Archivalia of the Month is entered into the Slovenian online library system Cobiss as an electronic periodical. Since November 2011, an English version of each monthly archivalia is available as well.

While being published online, the original (if possible) of each presented document is at the same time also displayed in the hall leading to our reading room at the Gruber palace, so that visitors can have a “live view” of our selection of Slovenian archival legacy.

Virtual exhibition “Archives – Treasuries of Memory” marks a turning point in our exhibition efforts. A product of collaboration between all ten of Slovenian archives, the exhibition offers visitors a chance of an interactive walk along the corridors of space and time, a walk through treasuries of memory.  The virtual presentation of the exhibited material and the spatial layout of the exhibition was prepared by Boštjan Burger in collaboration with Andrej Nared.

We believe that presenting our documents in such a way will provide the public with an insight into our work, and offer us a chance to gradually in word and image create a unique mosaic made up of fragments from our archival fonds and collections.