LJUBLJANA, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The Confucius Institute Ljubljana and the Slovene Ethnographic Museum organised a celebration of the United Nations Chinese Language Day in the capital Ljubljana on Thursday, offering a free visit of the museum's Chinese exhibition and a calligraphy workshop.

Sinologist Helena Motoh led visitors through an exhibition of Chinese artefacts that were collected in China over 100 years ago by a Slovenian navy officer Ivan Skusek and donated to the museum in 1963.

Among the over 500 artefacts donated by Skusek is a wooden model of a traditional Chinese three-bay gate with a saddle roof, assembled in 2023 by experts from China's Palace Museum, along with numerous pieces of carved furniture, musical instruments, silk artefacts, clothes and a collection of Buddhist statues.

"This collection of Chinese artefacts is very special not only for Slovenia but also for Europe," Motoh told visitors, pointing out that Skusek collected the pieces while staying in China between 1914 and 1920 and brought them to Slovenia in the hope of establishing a Chinese museum. However, he was never able to realise his dream of a museum.

The museum prepared an hour of Chinese fairy tales where three museum curators told children three traditional fairy tales.

The visitors could also taste some traditional Chinese dishes and choose free literature on China in English. They were welcomed in Slovenian and Chinese by representatives of the Confucius Institute.

"The exhibition is very interesting. I particularly liked the large carved mirror and the beautiful Chinese canopy bed," a senior visitor Brigita told Xinhua.

The exhibition of Skusek's collection, which was opened last year, will remain in place at least till 2026.■