The Idrija Municipal Museum is a public institution with its administrative seat at Gewerkenegg Castle in Idrija, which was built in the first half of the 16th century. Two organizational units operate within the Idrija Municipal Museum: the Idrija Department and the Cerkno Department.
The Idrija Department houses permanent and occasional museum setups in the renovated castle complex, a permanent exhibition entitled Five Centuries of the Mercury Mine and the Town of Idrija, which received the award of the Luigi Michelette Foundation from the European Museum Forum for Best European Museum of Industrial and Technical Heritage in 1997. The Idrija Department runs the Museum and is responsible for the numerous technical and cultural monuments in Idrija, including the Idrija kamšt (water wheel), a collection of restored mine machines and devices in Francis’ Shaft, a miner’s house, and the Slovenia Partisan Printing Shop on the Vojsko plateau.
The Cerkno Department includes, alongside the Cerkno Museum, two cultural monuments of immovable heritage in the Cerkno region, i.e. the homestead of writer France Bevk in Zakojca, and the Franja Partisan Hospital in Dolenji Novaki. On display in the museum are two permanent exhibitions: The Cerkno Region through the Centuries, and PUST IS TO BLAME! – A Story about the laufarji from Cerkno.
France Bevk’s homestead in Zakojca offers a realistic presentation of life in the Cerkno region at the turn of the 19th century, and also presents the writer’s life and work. The Franja Partisan Hospital is a fully reconstructed monument from World War II, preserved as a place of remembrance that conveys an important message and symbolic meaning.
