A new programme called Museum for Seniors was prepared at the National Museum of Slovenia: We visit you, you visit us. It is intended for the older population, including the inhabitants of retirement homes, activity day centres for the elderly, third age universities, intergenerational centres, pensioners’ associations, and other interested parties.
The programme’s purpose is multi-faceted: the participants can reawaken their knowledge of the past, learn new things, and get to know individual treasures of the heritage left to us by our ancestors. It is also a good way to spend some quality time.
The programme has numerous points of interest. In the first part, the professional staff act as hosts at a pre-agreed location by presenting Interesting Stories from the National Museum of Slovenia. Did you know that it houses the oldest musical instrument in the world – a Neanderthal flute? The listeners also like to hear the explanation of ivory dolls from Emona, and the popular Medieval story of Melusine, a female spirit. In the second part of the programme, the participants visit the National Museum of Slovenia, where they get to know ten famous museum items. They can see the only exhibited dugout canoe in Slovenia, the Vače situla – one of the most expertly crafted and conserved situlas, golden patches from Bled, which are also the oldest golden objects found in the territory of Slovenia … Visitors can also put on a Roman tunic or toga and hold a replica of a Medieval sword. But there is much more to find and see in the museum.
The museum is barrier free and open to persons using wheelchairs. Light, portable chairs can also be used while viewing museum exhibits.
The reactions from the participants are a good motivation to continue with the programme. Here are two entries from the museum guestbook:
“Excellent tour.”
“Admirable exhibits. We can be proud to have such a rich collection.”
Tea Černe (tea.cerne@nms.si), National Museum of Slovenia
