From prehistoric times onwards, Črnomelj has had a strategic position as a bastion through antiquity, the Middle Ages and beyond, always on the border between different cultures, and even in the Second War it was the only liberated territory in Slovenia. The municipality has therefore decided to present this rich history in the old town centre in the birthplace of Miran Jarc. The town's museum collection was installed on three floors of the villa, which was also completely renovated: prehistory and antiquity on the ground floor, the Middle Ages and partly the New Ages on the first floor, and the 19th and 20th centuries in the newly acquired attic.
We first carried out a "reading of the building" with its structure: with all the axes, views, proportions, materials and details present, in order to establish a basic concept of the layout of the exhibits and to place the supporting exhibits in the itinerary at key points. In this way, we have created a "readable spatial language" that guides the visitor on a journey through time by guiding the visitor's gaze.
Due to the rich and intense paintings, which were restored and different in each room of the building, the installation of the collection was very delicate; no drilling into the walls, as little obscuring as possible, minimal supports for the exhibits, respect for the basic structure of the building, etc. That is why we carefully managed all the installations, conceived unique showcases on the thinnest possible, mostly cantilevered supports, which are set back from the walls, even the panels that are hung have a distance to the paintings and are printed on canvas (tradition of the Bela Krajina), we masked the radiators with steel lace" (which comes from the paintings), we created an original way of lighting, which only interferes with the bordures; larger exhibits, such as models, were placed in air canopies... . In the attic, interventions were permissible; we closed off the collapsed triangles and placed movable islands in the centre, allowing the open space to be used for lectures, etc. Of course, we also used modern technologies (projections of story layers onto the models, multimedia, films and photographs, touch screens, etc.), and we designed the reception and the curator's room in the spirit of the whole project.