Dr Blaž Vurnik, curator of the Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana, has received an ICOM Slovenia award for his project »Hidden Children of the 2nd World War« (Skriti otroci II. svetovne vojne).

»Hidden Children of the 2nd World War«, an 18-¬month-long project partially funded by the Europe for Citizens – European Remembrance Programme, is an extensive research of the war and post-war life of children who survived the war in Ljubljana without parents and the safety of their families, and have been for decades known as the »illegal children« (illegalčki).

The aim of the ICOM Slovenia Award is to encourage, popularize and promote international networking of ideas and activities of Slovenian museums. International cooperation of Slovenian experts with their colleagues abroad, inter-institutional connections, engagement and joint projects at the international level enable the interweaving of contents and their global contextualisation. The resulting international dialogue encourages a critical view and constructive criticism, discussions about heritage topics and contents, and consequentially building of knowledge and expertise on the significance of cultural heritage as well as its historical and sociological intertwinement. Museums are promoted as creators of new ideas and contributors to the development of consciousness.