Opening of the new multimedia exhibition EVERYWHERE

2/4/2025

Vsemir - border at Miren cemetery

Opening of the multimedia exhibition in the renovated collection of the Museum at the Border

Tuesday, 4 February 2025, 3 p.m.

The Goriška Museum's exhibition "Vsemir" is about the border that cut the Miren cemetery in 1947 in two, dividing it between Yugoslavia and Italy. The border ran across the graves, dividing not only the living but also the dead. It brought turmoil to the eternal peace of the cemetery.

People could no longer bury their loved ones on the other side of the border and were no longer allowed to meet. The exception was 1 November, when everyone was allowed to come to the cemetery. In reality, this day was more for the living than for the dead. Even though the cemetery was heavily guarded, people could at least see each other, secretly tell each other something or throw an object across the border. Sometimes, too, someone took the opportunity to try to escape across the border in search of a new and better life.

Life for the Mirencis and all border residents improved somewhat in 1955 when they were given passes to cross the border several times a month. The adoption of the Osimo Agreements in 1975 was of paramount importance, as it finally settled and repaired the border between the two countries. In the Miren cemetery, thanks to quiet diplomacy, the border had been moved the year before, so that the cemetery remained entirely on the Yugoslav side.

Vsemir, that all-encompassing, that which is of all and which we all share, is a place that invites us to pause for a moment, to reflect and to question the limits of man and the limits of mankind.

Rok Bavčar

Conception and design by Bojan B. Bitežnik

More about Museums at the Border

Hours: daily from 9.00 to 21.00 (from 5 February 2025 onwards)

Free admission.

GO!2025 - European Capital of Culture, Municipality of Nova Gorica, Municipality of Miren - Kostanjevica, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.