On 1-2 October 2026, the Department of Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Arts hosted a doctoral and postdoctoral conference in political theory and philosophy. The conference was the first of its kind in Ljubljana, and featured 13 speakers from 10 institutions in 9 countries. Dušan Rebolj, an associate of the History of Humanities in Slovenia programme, organised the conference, which was generously funded from the Faculty of Arts’ research development funds.
David Movrin has a new article out in Graeco-Latina Brunensia, a classical studies journal published by the Masaryk University. The article is titled “Professor Jan Luňák and Alma mater Aemonensis: the Czech founding father of the classics department in Ljubljana”, and recounts how a Czech classicist’s unusual career culminated in his becoming the founding figure of classical studies at the University of Ljubljana.
Our research programme now comes with its own podcast series. You can listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Slovenski podcasti. We have published three episodes so far: an introduction, in which Blaž Zabel and Dušan Rebolj present the research programme; the second episode, in which Dušan Rebolj and Jan Ciglenečki discuss the history of Egyptology in Slovenia; and the third, in which Blaž Zabel discusses philology in an international context with his guests.
On view at the National Gallery of Slovenia until 2 September 2026, Revelations: Zoran Mušič and a Collection of Ancient Indian Works with the Addition of a Woodblock Print by Hiroshige presents ten Indian miniatures and a Japanese print from the former collection of the painter Zoran Mušič. The collection’s Indian provenance, preserved in Mušič’s estate, links the exhibition to our research programme, which also surveys the history of Indology in Slovenia. Our programme associate Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nina Petek (Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana) took part in identifying the iconography of the motifs and authored the exhibition’s in-depth studies of the Indian works, which open windows onto Hindu mythology, the bhakti tradition, Jain teachings, and court culture. Her texts are available via QR codes.
Our colleague Tone Smolej has published a new paper in the journal Primerjalna književnost on France Kidrič and the beginnings of university studies in comparative literature in Slovenia.
On Thursday, 21 May 2026, our project will be hosting the 23rd Lavrin’s Egyptological Evening. We will be organizing the event in collaboration with the Department of Egyptology and Coptology at the Centre for Near Eastern Studies of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. The event will take place in the Blue Room, on the 5th floor of the Faculty of Arts.”
An article about the establishment of an Egyptological museum at Miramar Castle was published in Delo. The author, Vesna Milek, drew on research on Slovenian consuls in Egypt, conducted by our colleagues Blaž Zabel and Jan Ciglenečki. Some of their findings will also be published as a chapter titled:
Austrian Egyptology and its Colonial Context: The Case of Three Consuls from Slovenia (Anton Lavrin, Rudolf Gödel-Lannoy, Jožef Švegel)
in the book: Pyramids and Progress. Perspectives on the Entanglement of Imperialisms and Early Egyptology (1800–1950), published by Peeters Publishers.
We will be hosting an exciting international workshop on the History of Philology at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana!
Blaž Zabel has received the Šumi Prize for Promising Early-Career Researchers at the conclusion of this year’s Days of the Scientific Research Institute of the Faculty of Arts. He was awarded the prize for his outstanding achievements in the history of the humanities and for establishing an innovative research group that makes a significant contribution to the development and internationalization of Slovenian humanities.
Nina Petek participated as a presenter and member of the international advisory committee in the two-day International Literary Conference on Indian Literature and Culture, organised by the Department of English & Foreign Languages at SRM University in New Delhi.