Painter Agata Freyer, who conceived the show together with acclaimed puppeteer Edi Majaron, pointed to a remarkable heritage of Slovenian puppets that a few other nations can take pride in.

Freyer, who spoke to the press earlier this week, stressed the exhibition also paid tribute to outstanding artists who were involved in the production of puppets, including Jože Ciuha, who will open the show, Tone Kralj, Marlenka Stupica and many others.

Echoing her view, Majaron said Slovenian puppetry was lucky in that artists saw it as a distinctive form of art. Unfortunately, a lot of material has been lost through time, the pair regretted to admit.

Puppetry was brought to Slovenia by puppeteer Milan Klemenčič (1875-1957), who brought Italian and German puppet traditions to the country.

This will be the third puppet exhibition put up at the National Museum, said Robert Waltl of the Ljubljana-based theatre Mini teater. Previously, the cooperation between the museum and the theatre resulted in the exhibitions on Polish and Serbian puppets.

After it closes in Ljubljana on 8 June, the exhibition will travel to the cities around Europe, including the Serbian capital of Belgrade, Hungary's Budapest and Croatia's Zagreb.