National Museum of Contemporary History
Encyclopedia
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
. It is located in a mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
on the edge of Tivoli Park in the district of Šiška
Šiška
The Šiška District or simply Šiška is the most populous of the city districts of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Several cultural monuments are located in Šiška, among them St. Bartholomew's Church, built in the 13th century and remodeled between 1933 and 1936 by the Slovene architect Jože...
, traditionally known as the Cekin Mansion (Cekinov grad).
The mansion was built between the 1752 and 1755 under the command of Count Leopold Lamberg. During the last years of the French
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
occupation of Ljubljana in 1812-1813, the mansion was used as a temporary residence of Eugène de Beauharnais
Eugène de Beauharnais
Eugène Rose de Beauharnais, Prince Français, Prince of Venice, Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy, Hereditary Grand Duke of Frankfurt, 1st Duke of Leuchtenberg and 1st Prince of Eichstätt ad personam was the first child and only son of Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais and Joséphine Tascher de la...
, viceroy of Italy
Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state founded in Northern Italy by Napoleon, fully influenced by revolutionary France, that ended with his defeat and fall.-Constitutional statutes:...
and commander of the Napoleonic armies in the Illyrian Provinces
Illyrian provinces
The Illyrian Provinces was an autonomous province of the Napoleonic French Empire on the north and east coasts of the Adriatic Sea between 1809 and 1816. Its capital was established at Laybach...
.
In the mid 19th century, the mansion was bought by the Slovenian partiot Peter Kozler
Peter Kozler
Peter Kozler or Kosler was a Slovene lawyer, geographer, cartographer, activist and manufacturer...
who lived there until his death.
After World War II, the mansion was nationalized by the Communist authorities of Slovenia
Socialist Republic of Slovenia
The Socialist Republic of Slovenia was a socialist state that was a constituent country of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1943 until 1990...
and transformed into the "Museum of the History of the Revolution". Since 1990, the museum has been dedicated to the heritage of 20th century Slovene history. It includes collections from World War I to World War II, to the Socialist period and the establishment of an independent state. The collection includes many historical items, including library materials and archives, fine art works and photographs.