Open Air Museum Rogatec

THE LARGEST SLOVENIAN OPEN-AIR MUSEUM OF VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE – OPEN-AIR MUSEUM ROGATEC

The Open-Air Museum Rogatec, located at the foot of Donačka Gora in the authentic landscape Štajerska, preserves the vernacular architectural heritage and cultural traditions of the people who lived in the Obsotelje region from the late 19th to the mid-20th century. Its core consists of original buildings (a central Štajerska farm of the sub-Pannonian type) and reconstructions of craft and farm structures.

The original idea of preserving the birthplace of poet Jože Šmit evolved into a local museum. Following the residential house came the farm building (barn), a double hayrack (toplar), and the pigsty, later joined by reconstructions – a well (shadoof), a beehive, a vintner’s house, trellises, a blacksmith’s workshop, and lodn (a rural shop from the 1930s), as well as the Kamnar hut.

The museum hosts ethnological and experiential workshops for both youth and adults, museum presentations, and educational workshops of traditional crafts, farming tasks, and cultural heritage. A special feature of the museum is its ecological herb garden, where herbs are hand-grown and processed into natural cosmetics (soaps, creams, room fragrances, hydrosols), teas, spices, as well as dried and freeze-dried fruit. These products can be purchased in the museum shop or online at the e-shop e-Lodn (elodn.rogatec.si).

A new addition is a walking trail past the herb garden leading to a viewpoint, along with an immersive experience of digital cultural heritage through the use of MR Hololens2 smart glasses. Visitors can enjoy refreshments at Pušnšank. The museum also offers audio guides in Slovenian and seven foreign languages (English, German, Italian, French, Croatian, Dutch, and Russian).