National Museum of Slovenia

The National Museum of Slovenia (Slovene: Narodni muzej Slovenije) is located in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It is situated in the Center district of the city near the Tivoli Park.

Along with the Slovenian Museum of Natural History, located in the same building, the National Museum of Slovenia is the country's oldest scientific and cultural institution. The museum has an extensive collection of archaeological artefacts, old coins and banknotes (in the numismatics department on the ground floor) and displays related to the applied arts.


The museum was founded in 1821 as the "Estate Museum of Carniola". Five years later, the Austrian Emperor Francis I decided to personally sponsor the museum and ordered its renaming to "Provincial Museum of Carniola". In 1882, the museum was renamed to "Provincial Museum of Carniola - Rudolfinium" in honour of the Crown Prince Rudolph.
After the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the name was changed to "National Museum". Renamed to National Museum of Slovenia in 1992, today the museum is divided into Archaeological Department, a Numismatic Cabinet, a Department of Prints and Drawings and a Department of History and the Applied Arts.

The current building, designed in a Neo-Renaissance style by the Slovene architect Viljem Treo, was built between 1881 and 1885.