Preserving thoughts - for 250 years

28 May–3 December 2024 (extended to 8 February 2025)

“They preserved them in the past and we preserve them today for the present and the future.” (Avgust Pirjevec)

The numerous beginnings, challenges, events and efforts that have accompanied the operation of NUK and its predecessors reveal a genuine mosaic of understanding, including what it means to collect, store, preserve and disseminate material, and to care for a range of publics: users, publishers, librarians and all of the visitors, lovers of books, culture and science. This mosaic of understanding leads to the solid values of our work, the future of fulfilling the library’s mission, and a grateful tribute to the story that began in the spirit of the Enlightenment some 250 years ago. It provides an answer to the question of what the National and University Library is and how we preserve thoughts.

It is in this spirit that we have prepared the exhibition Preserving Thoughts - for 250 years. The stories, documents, photographs, diverse materials and information included in the exhibition offer a historical cross-section and a presentation of the past and present activities of NUK, inviting visitors to stroll through the 250-year development of the library. The exhibition includes original treasures from our collection, materials that are of exceptional importance not only for our institution, but also for the cultural and scientific development of the entire nation, reflecting the diverse range of materials that we preserve at NUK. Among the exhibited items are the first inventories of the collection, catalogues, official correspondence and material from bequests, donations and legal deposit copies, as well as a selection of recently acquired material from special collections and various works written by librarians and other library staff.

The exhibition is designed in two parts. The material exhibited from the opening until September will present the beginnings of the library and the collection of material. In the second part, we will present the diversity of the materials held in the library, as well as their organisation and preservation.

Showcase of the month

Every month, the most important materials from the NUK collection will be displayed in a special showcase. In the first week of the exhibition (28 May–4 June), you will be able to view the Stična Manuscript from the fifteenth century, the most important Slovenian medieval manuscript held in NUK; at the end of June (24–29 June), the leaflet Ain newes lied von den krayennerischen bauren  (A New Song about Carniolan Peasants) will be on display, which contains the first printed Slovenian words (a slogan of rebellious peasants) from 1515; in July (1–31 July), the showcase will feature the famous Die Ehre dess Hertzogthums Crain (The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola) by Janez Vajkard Valvasor from 1689; in August (1–31 August), Jurij Dalmatin’s Bible (1584) will be on display; for one week at the end of September (23–28 September), there will be a unique opportunity to view the Codex Suprasliensis, one of the oldest Slavic language monuments from the first half of the eleventh century; October (21–26 October) will be dedicated to Slovenian Protestantism, with a special showcase featuring the works Articuli oli deili, te prave stare vere kerszhanske, is S. Pysma po redu postauleni inu kratku sastopnu islosheni by Primož Trubar (1562) and Arcticae horulae succisivae, de Latino Carniolana literatura (Free Winter Hours) by Adam Bohorič (1584); at the conclusion of the exhibition (27 November–3 December), on the anniversary of Prešeren’s birthday, which is the traditional open day of Slovenian culture, a special showcase will display the manuscirpt legacy of the poet’s Zdravljica, with one of the manuscript versions held in NUK.

The foyer of the Main Reading Room

The 250th anniversary of the beginnings of the National and University Library is an opportunity to gaze back into the past and recall the events that have shaped the development of the library and the building of the collection and services for users. We will present selected stories, whose echoes continue to resound today, as they have had a significant influence on everything that followed. These cornerstones of our development shed light more broadly on the role of NUK.

The history of NUK shows how the development and memory of our library are woven from the threads of unfortunate accidents and how our exceptional predecessors dealt with these events and thus paved the way forward. It shows us the fascinating stories surrounding the library collection and its greatest treasures, how we collect and take care of the treasures of written cultural heritage, and how we have been committed to the tradition of educating and connecting librarians throughout Slovenia for decades. For many years, we have been meticulously recording the rich creativity of the Slovenian nation and, with the help of sponsors, we are preserving the collections for posterity. NUK is also a presentation space, where exhibitions of manuscripts and printed works tell incredible stories and bring our many visitors into contact with material that is otherwise difficult to access. Finally, it demonstrates our commitment to expanding access to online resources for study and research, or simply for fleeting interest.

Exhibition colophon

Monograph

The exhibition is also accompanied by the monograph The National and University Library: Preserving Thoughts – For 250 Years. The publication provides an overview of significant historical milestones and the activities of the library. Organised in three sections (We Collect, We Store, We Disseminate), the monograph presents a basic outline of the library’s past and present operations, as well as a view of the future. The texts are accompanied by selected pictorial material from events and presentations, from materials and the internet, and from the library’s premises and the thoughts of library staff, as well as interesting presentations of statistics.