The exhibition at the Ljubljana fairgrounds aims to present Tito as a political icon of the 20th century, and above all as the real person behind the cult, according to organizers, the Maribor-based firm Ti&To.

Trieste-based historian Jože Pirjevec described Tito as a multi-faceted and controversial personality in his address to the opening event on Wednesday evening.

He said that Tito loved power and regretted that he would not give it up through the end. "Even though he enjoyed a life of excessive luxury, he let others live a fairy good life as well."

Pirjevec believes Tito deserves respect because of his role in the resistance movement in World War II, without which he believes Slovenia would not exist as a nation today.

The exhibition is divided into ten sections dubbed Tito and Yugoslavia, Tito's aides, Relay of Youth, the Non-Aligned, Tito's travels, his vehicle fleet, Tito and the Post of Yugoslavia, artistic representations of Tito, his New Year's Eve celebrations and funeral.

The display does not avoid dark chapters of Tito's era such as Goli otok, the island that served as top-security prison and labour camp for dissidents. The archival material includes lists of prisoners.

The exhibition also includes some of the documents that have never been exhibited before as well as Tito's personal belongings, including his writing desk with a chair and a lamp.

The exhibits include the last of the batons presented to Tito on his birthday after touring the former federation. The baton was designed by Slovenian sculptor Milena Braniselj, the only woman to win the competition to design this symbol since 1946.

Ti&To, the company set up in Maribor in 2010, collected material for the exhibition from private archives, the Slovenian protocol service, the Belgrade-based Museum of Yugoslavia's History, the Slovenian railway and technical museums and daily Delo's archives.

Open until the end of February, the exhibition is likely to stir controversy. The right-leaning weekly Reporter has already expressed indignation at what it sees as an event nurturing "Titoist nostalgia".

The paper also finds it odd that a company that only generated two euros in revenue last year should now mount an exhibition about Tito in the centre of Ljubljana.