Cultural and art history collection

Cultural and art history collecton is presentet in a building known as the Old Counts’ Mansion.

Visitors can view the objects of the art and cultural history collection on the arcaded stairway and in the twelve rooms of the mansion’s first floor.

The Celje Ceiling is a singular example of secular painting from the turn of the 16 th and 17 th centuries in Slovenia. The ceiling, 14.45 x 9.7 m is painted in tempera on canvas. It is divided into 11 sections. The biggest, central section shows pillared architecture with four towers and is drawn in perspective. The long sides of the ceiling show the four seasons and the short ones the battle of the Romans and Trojans while the corners are occupied by four giants. The author of the Celje Ceiling is unknown but it is certain that he used sketches and models for most of the composition.

Selected medieval objects are exhibited in a room with frescoes showing genre motifs. A glass-case was temporarily located here, displaying the skulls of the Counts of Celje, an eminent medieval dynastic familiy, which had its seat in Celje from 1333 to 1456. The permanent exhibition on the Counts of Celje is in storage, waiting for the town to arrange suitable premises in the Princes Palace.

The Renaissance room contains furniture and our attention is drawn to a child’s funeral cap from Govče. In the room which combines objects from the period between the Renaissance and Baroque, an outstanding item is the inlaid wardrobe of precious wood, lined with ivory and tortoise shell. Baroque exhibits are displayed under the vault of the former kitchen of the mansion. Work by the Celje Baroque sculptor Ferdinand Galle is exhibited in a room with Rococo painted walls. The period of the Late Baroque and Rococo is presented through characteristic furnishings. Classicist and Empire art are illustrated by precious pieces of furniture, clocks, china, miniatures and the like. The Biedermeier period is reflected by burgher furniture and numerous portraits. The last room is dedicated to objects belonging to historicism.