China to host two Slovenian exhibitions

The museum will put on the exhibitions in two Chinese cities; objects portraying Slovenia's past will be exhibited at the Silk Road international alliance of art museums meeting at the National Museum of China in Beijing, while artefacts showcasing Slovenia's creativity and ancient finds will be displayed at the Qujiang Museum of Fine Arts in Xi'an.

Last year, the Ljubljana-based museum launched an exhibition of the Qujiang Museum entitled The Gold of Chinese Emperors, which ran until February 2019. The Qujiang Museum's April programme will in turn include Slovenia's exhibition The Treasures of Slovenian Creativity.

According to Slovenian National Museum director Barbara Ravnik, the exhibition exchange is the result of cooperation between the two countries that started six years ago when China reached out to directors of central European museums.

The Slovenian museum decided to create a special exhibition for the exchange with the Xi'an-based museum, presenting the country to the Chinese people by highlighting the cultural diversity of the region.

It was also invited to attend the international exhibition of the Silk Road museum alliance at the largest museum in the world in Beijing, which will start on 11 April during the World Economic Forum event.

For the Beijing-based exhibition, which will display projects of around 20 national museums, the museum provided artefacts that mirror the cultural and technological development of Slovenia, including the political situation and demographic diversity of the country through time.

It will display 28 objects, 27 of them originals and a copy of the famous Neanderthal flute, which is too fragile and precious to be transported.

The Qujiang museum will on the other hand host 135 artefacts and 5 copies, including the flute and a gilded bronze Roman statue of the Emona Citizen (Emona being the ancient Roman name for Ljubljana), or contemporary cultural objects, such as "panjske končnice" objects, which are used to decorate Slovenian beehives or the ground glass products of established glass maker Steklarna Rogaška.

Besides presenting Slovenia historical timeline, the exhibition will also feature a presentation of the Slovenian National Museum as well as of the collaboration between Slovenia and China.