SloveniaThings to Know

Over two-thousand years Slovenia has seen undulating rule – the Romans occupied Slovenia for 500 years and when they left in the 5th century, the Huns, Slavs, Avars, Caratanians, Bavarians, and others arrived, rebelled, battled, and ruled until the 11th century when the medieval Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation took over. This was followed by the Hapsburg Monarchy and then the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with a brief stint under Napoleon’s French Empire that lasted until 1814.

With the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after WWI, Slovenes joined the Serbs and Croats under Serbian King Peter, then Alexander who made himself absolute rule and renamed the kingdom Yugoslavia. In 1941, Germany invaded and occupied until the end of WWII when Slovenia became a part of Communist Yugoslavia led by General Tito. Life under Tito improved living standards but Slovenes didn’t love seeing their resources syphoned off towards less prosperous regions.

Tito died in 1980 and by the late 1980s Yugoslavia was breaking up. A referendum in 1990 showed the people were in favour of an independent Slovenia, which was then established in 1991.

In December of 1991 Slovenia gained a new constitution Slovenian independence was recognized by the EU in 1992. Like many eastern European countries, Slovenia faced a difficult transition from Communism to capitalism but became a member of the EU and NATO in 2004. In 2007 Slovenia adopted the Euro as its currency.

The National Gallery contains the nation’s largest collection of fine art from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. The gallery is divided into sections according to historical periods. With 600 works by Slovenian and European artists, it also houses works by Zoran Music (1909-2005), a famous modernist painter. 

And the City Museum is dedicated to the history of Ljubljana and its inhabitants from 4500 BC to modern day. Several excavations have taken place at the museum itself and revealed artifacts from the Roman and the Late Medieval periods.