Čebelarski muzej Krapje

Private beekeeping museum in an octagonal apiary from the late 19th century in Krapje, with a collection of beekeeping equipment and a training apiary.

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About the museum

The octagonal apiary dates from the late 19th century. It was made by a carpenter nicknamed Pok from Tišina; the first owner was the large landowner and teacher Evgen Antauer from Tropovci. In 1945 the farmer Alojz Šeruga bought it together with the estate, and in 1996 the beekeeper Drago Šalamun acquired it and set it up in Krapje as a beekeeping museum. The apiary is protected as an ethnological monument; in it, beekeeping with 84 colonies in Naiser hives was possible.

In 2005 the museum was inherited by the Tigeli family, who began to engage intensively in beekeeping tourism. In 2008 a training apiary with eight colonies was set up next to the museum, where visitors observe the beekeeper’s work through a glass wall. In 2011 the commission for beekeeping cultural heritage of the Čebelarska zveza Slovenije (Beekeepers’ Association of Slovenia) named their beekeeping the best beekeeping tourism (naj čebelarski turizem).

The museum displays honey extractors, hand smokers, wax presses, hives from various periods (among them a hive more than 300 years old), moulds for making comb foundation, baskets and beekeeping literature. Next to it stand two classic double-pitched beehouses from the 1930s, which come from farms in Prlekija.

Highlights

Octagonal apiary from the late 19th century
Hives from various periods, including one more than 300 years old
Training apiary with a glazed observation room
Two double-pitched beehouses from Prlekija, dating from the 1930s
Sale of honey and honey liqueurs