BELA KRAJINA MUSEUM METLIKA

Trg svobode 4, 8330 Metlika, Slovenija
Tel.: +386 (0) 7 30 63 370
Fax: + 386 (0) 7 30 58 177

E-mail: belokranjski.muzej@guest.arnes.si

Open:
Monday-Saturday: 9 am-5 pm
Sunday and holidays: 9 am-12 noon

Visit outside opening hours by prior arrangemet only.
Guided tours by prior arrangement only.

Metlika castle also features the Gangl Gallery for temporary exhibitions, which is part of Bela krajina Museum, and the Castle Inn.

Bela Krajina Easter eggs, first half of 20th century (photo: Bojan Radovič)

The museum shop has the same opening hours as the museum.

Closed: 1 January, 1 November, 25 December

Entrance fee: YES

Free admission:
For holders of the ICOM, ICOMUS, PRESS cards

Other collections:
Semič Museum Collection
Štefanov trg 7, Semič
Caretaker: Jože Sever
Tel.: +386 (0) 30 67 540

Oton Župančič Memorial Collection
Vinica 6, Vinica
Caretaker: Rozalija Hudelja
Tel.: +386 (0) 36 46 114

Founded in 1951, Bela krajina Museum is based in the castle situated in the old part of Metlika. The museum stores movable cultural heritage of Bela krjaina and features three permanent displays: a large exhibition in Metlika and two smaller ones in Vinica and Semič.

The geographically, ethnically and culturally specific land that lies between the Kolpa rier and Gorjanci hills has a dynamichistory which is, in many ways, different from the history of the rest of Slovenia. This is the topic of the film ťImages of Bela krajinaŤ, which forms and introduction to the permanent display at Metlika Castle. Consisting of numerous objects, partly spa tial representations ans pictorial and documentary material, the collection presents local lifestyles from prehistory to the mid 20th centoury.

Bela krajina was first settled in the large Stone Age. The muesum's arheological collestion begins with remains from the Stone Age and features finds that show life in the Bronze and Iron Age, under Celtic and Roman rule, and in the late Classical period (when, in the 5th century, an important religious and administrative centre was located in Kučar, near Podzemelj).

Viticulture collection, Bela Krajina Museum (photo: Sašo Kovačič)
The cultural history collection presents the history of Bela krajina from around 1200, when Kolpa river became the border between Carinola and Croatia. In the 14th century the towns of Metlika and Črnomelj were founded; these underwent extreme hardship during the Turkish raids in the 15th and 16th centuries. The fascinating history of the Roman era, the Middle Age and modern period can also be discerned froim the coillection of stone monuments in the lapidarium.

Most of the permanent display is dedicated to the lifestles of the local population in the 19th and first half of the 20th century.

During that time, Metlika and Črnomelj were craft and trade centres, with a district emphasis on agriculture.
The townspeople founded a number of cultural and economic societies, many of which have survived to the present day. The etnological collection presentsthe tipical characteristics of the rural lifestyles of Bela krjaina. A special feature is the viticulture collectionin the castle basement. A visit to the permanent display ends with the recent history collection, which presents the most important events in the first half of the 20th century in Bela krajina.

The Oton Župančič Memorial Colection in Vinica presents the life and work of Bela krajina's greatest people.

The local Semič Museum Collection presents passages from the history of Semič and the neighbouring villages, and the lifestyles of the end of the Second World War. A special feature of the collection is the spatialy arranged viticulture collection.