Working in Factories

About the Event

The Gorenjska Museum cordially invites you to the opening of the exhibition

Working in Factories –

Industrial Workers in Kranj in the 20th Century

on Thursday, 10 December 2026, at 6:00 pm at the Town Hall in Kranj, Glavni trg 4.

About the Exhibition:

In the 20th century, Kranj was one of Slovenia’s most important industrial centres. Factories shaped not only the city’s economic development but also the lives of its residents, the appearance of its neighbourhoods and the everyday rhythm of the wider Gorenjska region. Behind factory walls unfolded the stories of thousands of people whose work, skills and perseverance helped create Kranj’s industrial heritage.

The exhibition Working in Factories takes us into the world of Kranj’s industrial workers, from the early decades of the 20th century to the decline of major industrial enterprises at the century’s end. It explores the development of the textile, rubber, footwear and electrical engineering industries and the people employed at once well-known factories such as Jugočeška, Jugobruna, Inteks, Tiskanina, Tekstilindus, IBI, Sava, Planika and Iskra.

Through personal accounts, photographs, documents and museum objects, we discover why people sought factory jobs, how they learned their trades and what opportunities they had for education and career advancement. The exhibition reveals demanding working conditions, long hours, shift work, noisy production halls, assembly-line work and production quotas. Special attention is given to women, who made up a significant share of the industrial workforce and often had to balance demanding factory jobs with family responsibilities.

An important part of the exhibition is devoted to workers’ rights, the development of social security and the system of socialist self-management. As this year marks the 90th anniversary of the great textile strike in Kranj, the exhibition also highlights this event, when workers across the city protested en masse against low wages and poor working conditions.

But workers’ lives did not end at the factory gates. The exhibition also explores journeys to work, meals during the working day, housing and living conditions, social gatherings, celebrations, sporting and cultural activities, and trade-union holidays that shaped the lives of many generations.

The exhibition pays tribute to the people whose labour kept the city running for decades.

At the same time, it invites us to reflect on changing attitudes towards work, workers’ rights and social security, and on the heritage of industrial Kranj, which remains an important part of our collective memory.

YOU ARE WARMLY INVITED