The Slovenian name for Kessler's gudgeon would translate to Kessler ‘pigeon’. This may lead some to assume that it was a bird. So they would benefit from knowing that this species has fins, not wings! If you are observant, you can find it in or natural history collection BELA KRAJINA NATURE CENTRE.
Where does your mind go when you hear the term tender beauties of Bela krajina? Surely you think of the white birches in the local characteristic steljniki (copses with eagle fern undergrowth). However, the meadows of Bela krajina conceal a plethora of other beauties, such as for example the stunning wild orchids … Seek them out in our natural history collection!

Have you ever heard of a puntek? This congenial word denotes something small and pleasant used to decorate Semič brides. You can find a puntek in our SEMIČ IN TWENTY IMAGES history collection. Don’t miss the simple and modest, yet very beautiful bridal garb that preserves the memory of the ancient customs of our ancestors.
In the whirlwind of decades, centuries, and millennia, numerous interesting traces were preserved in the wider Semič area ... they are waiting for you in our museum!

Not many people know that, many years ago, the famous Bela krajina wine festival Vinska vigred was initially held in Semič, before Semič gifted it to Metlika. Through our museum house’s VITICULTURE COLLECTION, you will learn plenty more interesting titbits about Bela krajina’s wine-growing tradition, for example about soseske zidanice (communal wine cellars) a.k.a. wine banks, where the rovaš notched stick was frequently used to keep tabs of the wine debt. Simple yet precise bookkeeping existed long before the computer age!

The Bela krajina karst area in the south-eastern part of Slovenia, at the junction between the high Dinaric karst and the Bela krajina karst plain, was formed over the course of 200 million years. This area, with several endemic cave species, contributes significantly to the underground biodiversity of Slovenia, which is one of the richest countries in the world in this respect. The groundwater has dug numerous channels, crevices, and caves in the limestone, where life has developed independently of the sunlit surface, making Slovenia one of the areas with the greatest underground biodiversity in the world. The vast majority of underground species are endemic, meaning they live only in a certain area of the world.