In order to move these amazing records and documents away from the darkness of the repositories in which they are kept, ten Slovenian archival institutions selected the most precious and most revealing examples and put them together in a monograph – to put it in numbers again – a nearly 3 kilograms heavy monograph.
Its title is "Archives – A treasury of memories". According to Andrej Nared Ph.D, who supervised the extremely demanding project, and is the editor of the publication, we now have the "finest selection" of archives all in one place. The monograph contains a little more than 240 samples, which cover a period from the 9th century until today. The work will be accompanied by an exhibition, which will open on the 4th of March at the National Museum of Slovenia (at the Metelkova exhibition grounds).
The more than 530 page piece of work is more than just a catalogue. It is at the same time a collection, a lexicon and a thematic guide through the archival materials. The independent monograph is relevant both for archivists as well as for other experts which deal with heritage. The aesthetically presented archival documents inside this publication can also raise the interest of the wider public. The monograph is the most complete anthology of Slovenia's archival heritage so far. More than 50 people took part in the realization of this demanding project.
On one hand the authors wanted to present a visually attractive publication which would include all of the milestone events, processes and work of famous people. On the other hand they also wanted to make sure that there was a chronological and geographical balance. At the same time those working on the monograph recognized the value of the "small" stories and unknown chapters of the less known individuals.
All the documents are presented in words and pictures. They will be presented similarly at the upcoming exhibition (it will feature around 170 documents, while the rest will be presented in electronic form). The exhibition will be opened in March at the exhibition grounds of the National Museum of Slovenia and will run until the 10th of May. Later they will also prepare a traveling exhibition, which will visit many Slovenian towns and also go abroad.
