Welcome to the Art History in Slovenia

Within the territory of present-day Slovenia - once on the outskirts of the Habsburg Empire, it joined Yugoslavia in 1918 and gained independence in 1991 - art has always been intrinsically connected with that of Europe. As a part of Central Europe, according to its geographical position, the country has also shared its political history, evolution of thought and culture. The western part of Slovenia, however, borders Italy and is Mediterranean in character. Northern and North-Western influences here intertwine with those of the West, blending into specific local variants. Therefore, the works of art of the past are primarily interesting in terms of the regional factors involved. There are, however, also works of art whose significance surpasses the regional framework. These deserve their proper place in a broader European context. Recently, Slovenian art historians have begun to increasingly concern themselves with exploring art outside Slovenia, i. e., the Austrian, Italian and Croatian borderlands as well as Central Europe and Italy.

One of the objectives of this review is also to acquaint the international scholarly public with these findings. Future issues of the journal will present abstracts of research projects and provide information about major exhibitions, professional meetings and new publications. The journal will also feature important studies by Slovenian art historians that had been published earlier in one of the world languages, whereby the problems these experts are dealing with will be highlighted and the attention will be drawn to the publications in which they originally appeared.