The National Gallery of Slovenia, seven centuries of Slovenian art in Ljubljana

A museum born with modern Slovenia

It was founded in 1918 as the National Gallery Society, with the aim of creating a museum for Slovenian fine art. The first permanent display opened in 1920 in the Kresija Palace, and in 1926 the Gallery moved to Narodni dom, the building František Škabrout put up between 1894 and 1896, where it still is. From the 1980s it grew for four decades, adding a new wing in 1993 and a glass entrance hall in 2001 linking it to the palace. The renovated Narodni dom reopened in January 2016, with its Grand Staircase, Golden Hall and Grand Hall restored.

What to see in the National Gallery

The permanent collection runs through art in Slovenia by period, from 1200 to 1600, then 1600 to 1700, 1700 to 1800 and so on, in stages, to after 1918. The Gallery says the early 20th-century paintings are etched into the Slovenian collective memory, and it holds the largest collection of Zoran Mušič, a painter highly regarded in France and Italy too.

The piece I would not miss is at the entrance. Since 2008 the glass entrance hall has held the restored original of the fountain Francesco Robba carved for Mestni trg, with its three Carniolan river gods. The town hall square in Ljubljana Old Town has had a copy since 2006. Here you can walk round it and look down on it from above, and there is a café beside it.

National Gallery opening hours and prices

Hours run from 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Sunday, with late opening until 8pm on Thursdays, and the doors close to new visitors thirty minutes before the end. Mondays are closed, as are New Year’s Day, May Day, All Saints’ Day and Christmas Day. The permanent collection costs €10, €6 reduced and €20 for a family; on the first Sunday of the month there is no charge. The combined ticket with temporary exhibitions is €14.

Three handy details. You can take photos without flash. The shop lends stools so you can sit in front of a work, and there are digital guides over free Wi-Fi. And coats, rucksacks and bags bigger than A4 go into the cloakroom.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Liubliana before prices climb.

Fitting it into a Ljubljana visit

The Gallery is on Prešernova Street, at the edge of Tivoli Park and next to the National Museum, so it pairs well with a walk in the park. With the city’s other collections, it is ranked in Ljubljana museums, and if you are short of time, see where I place it in things to do in Ljubljana.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Liubliana before prices climb.