In 2016, Janez Kunaver offered their entire mechanical workshop to the museum free of charge. The importance of this workshop for the Slovene technical heritage can be seen in the activities and achievements of three generations of the Kunaver family.
The Kunaver mechanical workshop with metalworking equipment in Rožna dolina in Ljubljana was active between 1928 and 2001. It was founded by the brothers Karel and Josip Kunaver and their work was continued by their sons. They successfully followed the development of modern engineering of the time both in Slovenia and abroad. This activity was expanded and improved with their own knowledge, skills and experience. In their workshop, they devised numerous spare parts as well as complete machines for metalworking of such quality and precision that they are still in use today in machine production.

The exhibition shows the typical metalworking machines of the 20th century, focusing on those that are connected to the Kunaver workshop in Rožna dolina. Therewith we tried to recreate a typical 20th century metalworking workshop machinery. The modern procedures of cutting, such as laser, flame and ultrasound, are not presented, as the focus is on presentation of machinery and the workshop of the Kunaver family, which we have taken among our collections.
When putting devices and products together it is important that the individual components are interchangeable, which means they have to be manufactured with extreme precision. This can only be achieved with machine production. To cut metal with machines, many different tools and devices are needed, one for each technological procedure, such as: grinding, sawing, drilling holes, turning cylindrical objects, planing or milling flat surfaces, milling grooves, profiles, gears, etc.

A typical workshop for mechanical metalworking has various machines in its machinery collection which can be roughly divided into the following groups: drilling machines, lathes, planers, milling machines and grinding machines. The typical representatives of these machines are also exhibited in the musem.

The machinery of the Kunaver workshop has changed throughout the decades. In order for the workshop to be able to function, some individual machines were purchased and remodelled according to need. The family also designed and manufactured some of the machines by themselves. A few machines from the first half of the 20th century are preserved until this day, and some of the have been sold, depending on the nature and scope of the work.