ZgodoVikend Concludes the Summer Season in Style

With ZgodoVikend 2026, the Park of Military History loudly and solemnly celebrated its twentieth birthday. The third weekend in September was, as is now customary, full of varied museum events, which were especially diverse in honor of the Park’s milestone anniversary.

As an introduction to the festive weekend, a concert by the Slovenian Armed Forces Band featuring guest Maja Keuc was organized on Wednesday, September 16, on the eve of the twentieth anniversary of the opening of the first pavilion of the Park of Military History, at the Krpan Home in Pivka. The keynote speaker at the event was the Minister of Culture, Dr. Ignacija Fridl Jarc. The event was also attended by the State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior and Public Administration, Dr. Božo Predalič, several deputies of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, high-ranking representatives of the Slovenian Armed Forces and the Police, local community representatives, partners, as well as several ambassadors, attachés, and other diplomatic representatives of foreign countries.

ZgodoVikend, a multi-day series of museum events designed for intensely exploring and experiencing history, was opened on Friday, September 18, by “Vestirnga 2026.” This tradition-tinted event involved military conscripts of the 2008 generation, for whom the Postojna Defense Administration conducted a familiarization with military duty within the museum complex. On this occasion, they arrived at the venue—just like generations of the past—on richly decorated conscription wagons, which today, following the abolition of conscription, represent an important cultural heritage.

ZgodoVikend continued on Saturday, September 19, with a series of diverse events. In the morning session, right at the opening, a guided hike to Primož was organized. The prospect of good weather attracted a solid number of hikers who, accompanied by a guide, learned about the history of the Alpine Wall underground fortress and, by viewing its interior, walked through an important part of local history.

Within the events inside the museum, the Saturday program was marked by a series of expert guided tours of the museum’s collections and exhibitions. In addition to general tours of the museum, a guided tour of the photographic exhibition “Arsenal of Heritage – 20 Years: Photo Highlights of the Development of the Park of Military History 2006–2026,” opened in May this year as the first in a series of events marking the Park’s twentieth anniversary, stood out. A guided tour of the Park’s exhibitions and collections in Slovenian Sign Language was also met with a positive response, bringing museum content closer to deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors as part of an effort to ensure accessibility for vulnerable groups. The museum program concluded in the afternoon with a lecture by the renowned Serbian historian Dr. Bojan Dimitrijević, titled “Yugoslavia and NATO: American Military Assistance to Yugoslavia from 1951–1958.” The Park of Military History organized the lecture in cooperation with the Association of Slovenian Officers, and it was attended by the President of the Association, Major General Dobran Božič, and the Vice President, Commander of the 1st Brigade of the Slovenian Armed Forces, Colonel Miha Rijavec.

The museum atmosphere was enriched by various children’s workshops. In the neighboring Stanislav Požar Barracks, Saturday’s events were largely marked by an open door day, where visitors had the opportunity to get a closer look at the military profession, while the youngest were especially thrilled by the chance to ride in an M-84 tank.

In Building D, which houses the Depots of State Museums, visitors could independently explore the exhibited items of the National Museum of Contemporary History of Slovenia, the Technical Museum of Slovenia, and the National Museum of Slovenia on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, a guided tour was prepared with Magdalena Mezeg from the National Museum of Slovenia through a new collection titled “The Furniture Remained, the Stories Remain: Bourgeois Furniture Sets from the National Museum of Slovenia.” On Sunday, the depot program was enriched by a guided tour with Ajda Kozjek from the Technical Museum of Slovenia through the depot’s exhibition of the year on mobile telephony in independent Slovenia, titled “Hello! Where are you?”

ZgodoVikend concluded with its climax on Sunday, September 20, when the Slovenian Armed Forces, the Police, volunteer fire departments (PGD) from Postojna, Pivka, Zagorje, and Košana, the Ljubljana Mountain Rescue Service, and the Association of Vintage Firefighters PGD Studeno presented themselves to visitors with equipment, vehicles, and a diverse program. Animal lovers also had their share of fun viewing a presentation by the Postojna Rescue Dog Handlers Club. The event further featured the airsoft club “H.A.S. team,” the Ljubljana Fencing Club with a fencing demonstration, and Kruška Blacksmithing with a knife-forging demonstration.

In addition to the static presentations of the defense and rescue structures, the Sunday highlight of ZgodoVikend was marked by dynamic performances from the participating units. In the late morning, the Special Unit of the Slovenian Police and the Police Aviation Unit provided an overture to the adrenaline-filled displays, staging a tactical demonstration of an intervention to prevent arms trafficking. Following this, members of PGD Postojna, PGD Pivka, PGD Košana, and PGD Zagorje presented a demonstration of wildfire extinguishing techniques. In cooperation with the Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief, an Air Tractor aircraft flew over the venue at the end of the firefighting display. Members of the Ljubljana Mountain Rescue Service also premiered at ZgodoVikend this year with a dynamic action display. In the afternoon, vehicles from the driving collection of the Park of Military History and the Military Museum of the Slovenian Armed Forces, as well as selected vehicles of the Slovenian Armed Forces, traditionally drove onto the main venue. The diverse events were crowned by a presentation from the 17th Military Police Battalion of the Slovenian Armed Forces, featuring a military police intervention demonstration. Throughout the day, visitors to the Sunday festival events were also introduced to various units of the Slovenian Armed Forces, namely the 1st Brigade of the Slovenian Armed Forces, the Logistics Brigade, the Command for Doctrine, Development, Education and Training, the 14th Engineering Battalion, the 15th Military Aviation and Air Defense Brigade, the 17th Military Police Battalion of the Slovenian Armed Forces, the 74th Medium Infantry Battalion of the Slovenian Armed Forces, the 460th Artillery Battalion of the Slovenian Armed Forces, and the Postojna Defense Administration.

The festival events were complemented by guided tours of collections and exhibitions. In light of marking the 35th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Slovenia, the guided tour of the main exhibition “The Path to Independence” stood out, while there was also great interest in guided tours of the newest museum exhibitions, “Alpine-Style Caps in Slovenia” and “Arsenal of Heritage – 20 Years: Photo Highlights of the Development of the Park of Military History 2006–2026.”

The events were enriched by a substantial accompanying program featuring a presentation of legendary vehicles of the former Militia (Milica) and other vintage vehicles, a book fair of military history literature, and a fair for militaria, tactical gear, and local home products. The youngest visitors could attend various children’s workshops, which were conducted not only by the Park but also by the Inner Carniola Museum Postojna, PGD Pivka, Neotropica, and the World in Miniature Association. Representatives of surrounding tourist destinations also presented their offerings to visitors.

This year’s ZgodoVikend filled Pivka to the last corner, as the Park of Military History was visited by almost 7,000 visitors over the weekend. Sunday’s events were also attended by the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Slovenia, Valentin Hajdinjak, MSc, Commander of the Forces of the Slovenian Armed Forces, Brigadier Uroš Paternus, Director of the Uniformed Police Directorate Mirko Nunić, Director of the Directorate for War Veterans and Military Heritage Klemen Karlin, as well as several deputies of the National Assembly and high-ranking diplomatic and military representatives of foreign countries.

Sunday’s events at the Park of Military History thus concluded the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of our largest military museum in a relaxed atmosphere, amidst the great enthusiasm of visitors from all over Slovenia and abroad.