Regional museum in Maribor celebrating 120-year anniversary

The museum, housed in the Maribor Castle, will host the international symposium Museoeurope entitled The Convergence of Millennia, where experts will discuss life in the prehistoric and historic eras in Europe. Some 130 authors from ten European countries will participate in the event planned for October.

This year's Fashion Month in the Museum, a project that has been part of the museum's programme for ten years, will focus on sports clothing in cooperation with the European Youth Olympics Festival, which Maribor will host in July.

With over 10,000 pieces of clothing dating from the 17th to the 21st century, the museum boasts one of Slovenia's most important museum collections.

Marking the Slovenian cultural holiday on 8 February, an exhibition of billboards displaying objects with a special cultural importance from 18 different collections will be on display at Trg Svobode close to Maribor Castle.

In March, a round table discussion will be held as part of a project focusing on the importance of cultural institutions being able to work independently and how their existence contributes to cultural life in the Podravje region.

Other major events marking the anniversary include an exhibition of clothing items at the museum's baroque staircase and a new series of concerts featuring young music talents from the Maribor Conservatory of Music and Ballet as a homage to composer Franz Liszt, who held a concert in Maribor Castle in 1846.

The celebrations will culminate with the Illuminated 120 exhibition, featuring 120 objects from Podravje, Pohorje, Kozjak and Slovenske Gorice. "It will feature objects that have a distinct cultural importance for the region," said deputy director of the museum Nives Cvikl.