Slovenian School Museum is SLOVENIAN MUSEUM OF THE YEAR
On International Museum Day on 18 May 2026, we received the unique SLOVENIAN MUSEUM OF THE YEAR award at the Valvasor Awards ceremony in recognition of outstanding achievements in the field of museology. We are honoured that the Committee working under the Slovenian Museum Association has recognised our long-standing committed work in areas that significantly help shape our wider cultural space.
The Slovenian School Museum is only the second museum to receive the title of Slovenian Museum of the Year. The award was received at the ceremony held at the National Gallery by the Director of the Museum, Mag Stane Okoliš, and the Museum Councillor and Head of the Exhibition Project, Mag Marjetka Balkovec Debevec.
Justification of the award by the Valvasor Medal Committee
Building on the museum’s tradition of over 125 years, the Slovenian School Museum staff have developed inspiring museum, pedagogy-andragogy, research and other educational projects through their dedicated and creative work in recent years. The permanent exhibition ‘School Rules!’ was the starting point, around which the museum built parallel activities by 2025. Despite the space constraints, this has brought the museum fully to life in a historic setting in the centre of Ljubljana, establishing it as a vital link in the current chain of museums thanks to its innovative, high-quality programmes.
Statement by the Director, Mag Stane Okoliš:
All of us at the Slovenian School Museum are delighted and proud that our long-standing professional work and efforts have been publicly recognised and acknowledged with this award. We are aware that our daily efforts in various areas of work and expertise go beyond what is absolutely necessary in our work and expected of us under foreseeable circumstances. Being firmly committed to our goals, we know that achieving them is worth the sacrifice. We are also pleased to be recognised for projects that complement and build on our core museum mission. We are open to the challenges of future museum and educational development. Thank you all for granting us this award.
Statement by Mag Marjetka Balkovec Debevec:
From its very beginnings, since 1898, when it was founded, the Slovenian School Museum has been shaped by individuals whose work and character have left a significant imprint. We have embraced their legacy responsibly, seeking to build on their journey. I see museum work as a combination of diligent, long-term work that is also very creative, and further enhanced by personal dedication and a special love for the profession. Together with the curators and all the museum staff, we have brought all these qualities together in the permanent exhibition ‘School Rules!’ and other related projects. There were quite a few challenges, but we managed to overcome them together and are delighted by the numerous compliments we have received from our visitors. It is a great honour for us to have the quality of our work recognised by our peers, and I would like to express sincere thanks to the Valvasor Awards Committee and the Slovenian Museum Association on behalf of my colleagues. The Valvasor Award for Slovenian Museum of the Year recognises all our recent efforts, uniting them like a beautiful, big ribbon. The award fills us with joy and gratitude, at the same time inspiring new plans for future museum work.
The achievements of the last few years oblige us all at the museum to continue working with commitment and responsibility.
Thank you to all our external collaborators for working with us to create projects and stories that enrich our space and bring people together. Special thanks go to the Svet Vmes architectural bureau and the designer Irena Gubanc and the Padalci group for designing the museum spaces and setting up the permanent exhibition.
We would also like to thank the Ministry of Education for its financial support and professional monitoring, and for enabling us to work in such a supportive environment.
Sincere thanks to all the visitors who make our work meaningful and help us to preserve the Slovenian educational heritage.
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Presentation of the Slovenian School Museum
Founded in 1898 by dedicated teachers who wanted to collect old and new teaching materials for further education, the Slovenian School Museum is the oldest specialist museum in Slovenia. Today, the museum is a meeting point for the research and promotion of educational development, as well as the dissemination of knowledge about its past and future.
The public institution is systematically and gradually building the museum on four supporting pillars. In its concern for preserving the educational heritage, it stems from museum activities, represented in the installation of a modern, interactive permanent exhibition on the history of education and upbringing in Slovenia. Through new methods of pedagogical and andragogical work and the use of historical teaching content and educational methods, the museum presents a living enactment of the past in the realm of the historical lessons. With its third consecutive annual scientific symposium, it is also strengthening its research activities and the scientific relevance of its work in the field of school history. This is also reflected in the progress of the School Chronicle scientific journal, which has recently been included in several prominent international bibliographic indexes, including Scopus. Through continuing education programmes for teachers, the museum links the challenges facing today’s schools to the experiences of education in the past, and with projects such as ‘Classroom in the cloud’, it directs the attention of the school development towards the future.
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School Rules!
The greatest achievement of the Museum in recent years, the exhibition ‘School Rules!’ was created by a core group of the permanent exhibition authors, consisting of curators from the Slovenian School Museum: Mag Stane Okoliš (Museum Consultant and Director), Mag Marjetka Balkovec Debevec (Museum Councillor, Head of Curators and Project Manager), Anton Arko (Museum Consultant, Head of the Alpha Unit), Marko Ljubič (Museum Consultant), Mateja Ribarič (Museum Councillor), Dr Branko Šuštar (Museum Councillor) and Polona Koželj (Librarian). The operative SŠM team also includes: Ksenija Guzej, Mateja Pušnik, Klara Marija Keršič, Franci Kadivec, Matej Prevc, Marjan Javoršek and Matjaž Kavar. The team involved in the upgrading of the exhibition project also consist of: Andreja Cigale, Helena Rojc Jarc, Matic Intihar, Dr Simon Malmenvall, Marjetka Petelin Zadnik and Gregor Gartner.
Original architectural layout of the permanent exhibition: architects of the Svet Vmes, d.o.o. architectural bureau: Jure Hrovat, Ana Kreč (also co-author of the content on the architecture of school buildings), Ana Križaj and Ana Kosi. Graphic design and illustrations: Padalci group (Irena Gubanc, Teja Jalovec, Mateja Škofič, Maja Horvat). Digital Content Development, AR: Bor Hojs, Studio Tibor
Many other collaborators and contractors were also involved in the exhibition project.
The project has been supported by the Ministry of Education, which monitors and finances the museum’s activities.
