Slovenia: National Theatre Museum of Slovenia

National Theatre Museum of Slovenia

Slovenski gledališki muzej

Street address: Mestni trg 17, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Telephone: 386 (0) 1 241 5800, 386 (0) 1 241 5810

Fax: 386 (0) 1 241 5816

E-mail: sgm@guest.arnes.si

Website: http://www.ljudmila.org/~lukap/muzej

Proprietor: Ministry of Culture

Contact: Ivo Svetina Director

E-mail: ivo.svetina@guest.arnes.si

Opening hours: 8am-3pm Mon-Fri, closed Sat-Sun and holidays

Founded in 1952 under the aegis of the Slovene National Theatre in Ljubljana, the National Theatre Museum of Slovenia merged with the Film Museum in 1978 to become the National Theatre and Film Museum. In 1996 it was once more divided into two independent institutions - the National Theatre Museum of Slovenia and the Slovenian Cinematheque.

The National Theatre Museum of Slovenia was founded in 1952 under the aegis of the Slovene National Theatre in Ljubljana, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Provincial Theatre in Ljubljana. The museum's first director was Janko Traven, who collected an enormous amount of material from the early periods of Slovene theatrical history. The museum was also supported by private donors. Janko Traven's successor Dusan Moravec began to organise the collected material more systematically, and in 1964 the museum began issuing various publications, including The Repertoire of Slovene Theatres (to mark the 100th anniversary of Ljubljana Drama Society) and the magazine Documents of the Slovene Theatre Museum, which continues to be published twice yearly today.

In 1978 the Theatre Museum merged with the Film Museum to become the National Theatre and Film Museum, and in 1990 this institution acquired new display rooms, a hall for performances and an office space. However, in August 1996 the museum was divided into two independent institutions - the National Theatre Museum of Slovenia and the Slovenian Cinematheque.

The National Theatre Museum incorporates a Library, an Archive, a Videotheque and an Iconotheque. The Videotheque collects, preserves and (with due regard to authorial copyright) facilitates internal study access to recordings of theatre productions, while the Iconotheque collects posters, costume design drafts, programmes, portraits, plans and plans and photographs of theatre sets.

The museum organises various exhibition at its premises. In 2006 it co-operated with Radovljica Municipality Museums in preparing the Anton Tomaz Linhart Memorial Room.