The city they called a miracle
The exhibition takes the visitor to the post-war Šalek Valley, or its eastern part, undoubtedly the most turbulent historical period. In the two decades after the Second World War, the small market town of Velenje, which in 1948 had only a meager 1,121 inhabitants, grew into one of the largest Slovenian social, economic, and cultural centers—the city of Velenje.
The main lever of such rapid development after the Second World War was the Velenje coal mine, which occupied an extremely important place in the plans of the new Yugoslav authorities for the industrialization, electrification, and revival of the economically backward, predominantly agrarian Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which was largely destroyed during the war.
Mastodonti
In 1964, extensive earthworks were made in Škale pri Velenju due to the sinking of the land. One of the engineers found remains of large bones.
Majda Kurnik 1920 – 1967
The collection presents the artist Majda Kurnik, the first academic painter from the Šaleška Valley.
Africa
The collection displays objects that were collected by the Czech academic sculptor František Foit during his travel and stay in Africa from 1947 to 1971.
Art Collection of the Velenje Gallery/20th and 21st century
The permanent exhibition of modern Slovenian art contains 64 paintings and sculptures from the 20th and the 21st century and has been systematically updated and renovated several times since 1975.
Between the romanesque and baroque periods
The exhibition presents the area of the Šalek Valley from the first written mentions of the valley in the 12th century to the end of the 17th century, when its medieval society started to disappear.
The Šalek valley 1941-1945
The exhibition presents the period of the Second World War in the Šalek Valley. The Šalek Valley was not on the margin of the events during the national liberation movement.
Castle chapel
The castle chapel, which was newly consecrated in 2016, is located in the north-west defence tower, which was given a new role in the 17th century.
The city that was called a miracle
The collection displays the development of the city of Velenje from 1945 to 1960, when a modern organised city emerged from a small rural market under the Velenje Castle, the so-called “socialist miracle”.
Fran Korun Koželjski
Fran Korun Koželjski One of the most prominent personalities of
Master of photography Volbenk Pajk
Master of photography Volbenk Pajk The permanent exhibition is the
Old store
The collection represents a reconstruction of a general merchandise store from the first half of the 20th century.
Old inn
The museum inn from the first half of the 20th century has original bar furniture with a bar counter, wooden fridge, cabinets for glasses and plates, gramophones, music cabinet from the 19th century, chairs, benches and tables.
Sculptor Ciril Cesar’s permanent exhibition
The exhibited works by the academic sculptor (and designer) Ciril Cesar draw the developmental arch of sculpting design from the classic, formal and in terms of content non-problematic academic realism…
