STA, 18 June 2022 - Slovenia will get a Computer Museum (Računalniški muzej) on Saturday, located in Ljubljana's Šiška district and opening its doors with an exhibition highlighting computer software, among other things. The museum will feature one of the largest collections from the world of computers in this part of Europe.
The actual museum comes after the Computer Museum has already been active as an NGO since 2004. Its head Gaja Zornada told the press on Thursday the decision had been made because of the rapid changes in society, which was constantly in contact with technology.
Zornada stressed the museum was not only meant for computer scientists, but for anyone unfamiliar with the history of computers. It also provides a supportive environment for educational processes.
"The Computer Museum is a place for active engagement, which is why we have several different volunteer programmes through which individuals can join specific museum projects to the best of their abilities, spend quality time together and learn new skills."
The opening exhibition, entitled "What About Software?", focuses on the less enduring side of computing - computer software.
It will also feature an item that will be part of the museum's permanent collection - one of Slovenia's most famous Internet servers from the 1990s, Stenar, which was ceremoniously handed over by the Academic and Research Network of Slovenia (Arnes) on Thursday.
The server was bought in 1991 to connect Slovenia to the world, allowing information to flow freely, and was also used by researchers and journalists at the Slovenian Press Agency to send information from Slovenia to the world in the 1990s.
The collection, which has been growing steadily for 18 years, now contains more than 1,500 items.
"I think we can comfortably say that this is one of the largest collections in this part of Europe," said Boštjan Špetič, head of the museum's collection.
It ranges from computers to software and also includes an extensive collection of books related to computers, books that libraries normally refuse to hold on to nowadays.
Precious rare pieces featured at the museum include the first scientific pocket calculator HP35 and the first laptop computer of the Jožef Stefan Institute.
Learn more at the website: https://www.racunalniski-muzej.si/
