The establishment of the Ethnological Department in 1992 with the employment of ethnologist Magda Peršič enabled professional and museological missions in the museum's operating area. Handling museum items and ethnological heritage determines the basic tasks of museum work, from cataloging (including private collections since 2003), collecting, conserving, safeguarding, documenting, researching, exhibiting, publishing, promoting, and working with the public (consulting, education, awareness-raising, etc.).
Ethnological heritage includes both material and intangible heritage systematically organized into collections. This heritage succeeded the ethnographic collection (1952) with randomly and non-intentionally acquired objects - peasant and artisan tools and devices from the Notranjska region. Between 1958 and 1990, most of it was presented in the permanent exhibition of the Notranjska Museum and the Karst Museum Collection.
The department's focus is on studying the tradition and innovation of people in the Karst cultural landscape, with an emphasis on researching the uniqueness and characteristics of local areas (customs, tree heritage, folk art and decoration, dormouse hunting, fishing culture, etc.), recognizing them, and integrating them into daily life and the transfer of global values to local heritage.
