As the central Slovenian history museum, it preserves numerous objects from Slovenia that belong to the top of the world's cultural heritage. Among them, the 60,000-year-old flute from Divje Babe, which is attributed to the Neanderthals, certainly stands out.
The National Museum is located in a neo-Renaissance palace building in the center of Ljubljana, which was built in 1883-85 according to plans by Viljem Treo. However, the history of the museum goes back further: it was founded in 1821 as the Carniolan Provincial Museum.
Permanent exhibitions:
Prehistoric treasures from the National Museum of Slovenia
On display are the most important archaeological finds from the National Museum of Slovenia's prehistoric collection, including the Neanderthal flute from the Divje Babe site (considered to be the oldest musical instrument in the world) and the famous situla from Vače.
Roman stories of a point of contact between different worlds
The exhibition presents archaeological finds from the time when the territory of present-day Slovenia was part of the Roman Empire. The exhibition is dedicated to the 2000th anniversary of the establishment of the Roman city of Emona (in the area of present-day Ljubljana). Among the more than one thousand exhibits is the Roman emperor's building inscription from 14 or 15 AD, which testifies to the founding of the city of Emona, as well as the gilded bronze statue of a citizen of Emona depicting its original location at the time of Emperor Trajan: the exhibition is complemented by films, reconstructions and pictorial representations.
Roman Lapidarium
The Lapidarium contains a collection of around 200 stone monuments with Latin inscriptions from Roman times, mostly from the area of the former town of Emona and the village of Ig, but also from the area of Trojane and the regions of Zasavje and Dolenjska. The monuments are exhibited on the first floor of the building and in a glass pavilion in the museum garden. They cover the period of the Roman Empire from the 1st to the 4th century AD.
