Exhibition grounds

Old Counts' Mansion

Muzejski trg 1, Celje +386 (0)3 4280 962 +386 (0)31 612 618 muzej@pokmuz-ce.si

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The Regional Museum of Celje houses one part of its collections in the building known to visitors as the Old Counts' Mansion. Its immense and uniform facade is directed towards the Savinja embankment, and dominates the southern part of the cityscape.

The mansion was built after 1580 by Thurn-Valsassina counts. Their ownership is displayed by the family coat-of-arms on the facade. Between 1622 and 1640 the arcade halls were added, and the courtyard was enclosed. The mansion was the property of Thurn-Valsassina counts until 1869, when it was bought by the municipality at auction.

The adapted building was repurposed by the city primary school, and after 1914 it was used as the municipal courthouse. Only after WWII was the mansion repurposed into something more appropriate.

During the restoration certain artistic pieces from its history were brought into the light. Wall paintings and the original wooden ceiling mouldings were discovered. The rooms were restored and renewed for museum purposes. The new museum identity – exhibition of cultural, historical, and ethnological items from Celje and its surroundings – gave the late Renaissance mansion a new life.

 

Currently, the Old Counts' Mansion houses three permanent exhibitions: 

The Cultural History Collection

The Celje Ceiling

From the Gothic to Historicism in Steps (accommodated for visually-impaired visitors)

Alma M. Karlin – Journeys

Lapidarium - closed at the moment

 

Princely Palace

Trg celjskih knezov 8, Celje +386 (0)3 4280 940 +386 (0)31 612 618 muzej@pokmuz-ce.si

It took several decades – at the turn of the 14th/15th century – for the Celje Counts to finish building the Princely Palace; they continuously perfected and expanded the mighty edifice. The central part of the palace was formed by a palatium with a trapezoid layout, two floors and two knight's halls. The outer corridor on the northern side of the palace connected the palatium with the towers. The tower above the mote contained the count's room, and above it was a decorated chapel. The preserved structural parts attest to the fact that the palace was an exceptional and ambitiously designed aristocratic building, erected by the mason worskhop of Celje under the auspices of the master mason Hans Melfrid.

From the 15th century onwards – after the extinction of the Celje Counts – the palace became the Vicedom office; in the middle of the 18th century, the building was repurposed into a barracks. The edifice as we know it today underwent many changes, and the most drastic ones occured during the reign of the empress Maria Theresa.

On 15 April, 2009, the Municipality of Celje, together with the Regional Museum of Celje, opened the archeological exhibition Celeia – a Town Beneath Today's Town – in the Princely Palace. Visitors can admire the remains of Roman Celeia »in situ«, and can take a stroll between the ancient walls which bear witness to the town's rich history.

 

Exhibition grounds

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Currently, the Princely Palace houses three permanent exhibitions:

Celeia – a town beneath today's town

The Counts of Celje

From a Bone Needle to the Celje Stars – Prehistory