External exhibition depot and lapidarium

As part of the project Kul(turizem) as a Generator of Destination Development, an open-air visible storage depot and a lapidary were constructed in September 2025. With the visible storage depot, the Notranjski Museum Postojna is addressing its long-standing lack of space: larger objects that until now had not been properly stored or presented to the public have finally found their permanent place. The depot is located outdoors next to the lapidary and allows visitors to view large objects of technical, ethnological and transport heritage from the Notranjska region.

Among the exhibited objects are:

• The first petrol-powered cave locomotive “Montania 803” This mining locomotive, ordered in 1914 from the Vienna-based company Orenstein & Koppel, was the first motorised locomotive in Postojna Cave and a response to the rapidly growing number of visitors after the construction of the Vienna–Trieste southern railway. Due to the First World War, it did not arrive in Postojna until 1923 and operated until 1957. Weighing more than three tonnes, it had been stored indoors for many years after several museum relocations. In 2025, Rado Novak carried out a thorough restoration, including the engine, so the locomotive is now fully preserved and on display in the depot.
• Drevak – the traditional boat of Lake Cerknica This flat wooden boat (drevak) is characteristic of the intermittent Lake Cerknica. It was used for fishing, transporting hay and people across the flooded area. It represents an important part of both the intangible and material ethnological heritage of Notranjska and testifies to the local population’s adaptation to this unique karst lake.
• Mechanical roasting spit from the Garzarolli house in Senožeče A technically highly ingenious device from the 16th or 17th century, powered by a clockwork mechanism. A small metal tongue made a noise to alert the cook when the mechanism needed to be rewound using a crank. For a long time it was kept at Predjama Castle; today it is one of the few surviving examples of early modern automation of household tasks in Slovenia. 

The lapidary is a museum collection and exhibition space in which stone monuments, inscriptions, gravestones, altar stones and architectural fragments from various historical periods are collected, stored and displayed. At the Notranjski Museum Postojna, the lapidary is arranged outdoors, immediately adjacent to the open-air visible depot, and brings together selected stone objects from the museum’s historical and natural-history departments. The exhibits cover a broad chronological range – from prehistory to the 20th century – and tell the story of the history, culture and natural processes of the Notranjska region.

Among the displayed objects are, for example:

• Bone breccia from the fossil shaft in Črnotiče quarry A large block of conglomerate (breccia) containing numerous visible fossil remains of cave bears and other Pleistocene animals. This natural geological and palaeontological exhibit bears witness to the activity of the underground karst world tens of thousands of years ago.
• Foundation stone of the Fascist House (Casa del Fascio) in Postojna A stone bearing an inscribed text that Benito Mussolini personally laid on 19 September 1938 during the inauguration of the Fascist House in Postojna. After the Second World War the stone was removed and hidden for many years; today it forms part of the museum collection as historical evidence of the period of Italian occupation.
• Fragment of Mussolini’s monument from Planina pri Rakek A fragment of a relief monument erected during the same visit by Mussolini in 1938 in honour of the Italian dictator. The monument was demolished after the liberation; the preserved parts are now exhibited as an important element of historical documentation.
• Installation made from the remains of the tombstone of Anton Globočnik The damaged parts of the medieval or early modern tombstone of the nobleman Anton Globočnik were assembled by restorer Stane Bele into a contemporary artistic installation that links the preservation of cultural heritage with aesthetic and communicative expression.

Together, the open-air visible depot and the lapidary form a new, comprehensive outdoor exhibition complex that offers visitors a direct and comprehensive insight into the multi-layered past of the Postojna and wider Notranjska region.