Starkl Museum
A History in Stories
An open-air museum on Lake Bled: the first gas station in Bled, two historic cars, the pletna boatmen, the mills along the Jezernica and the story of the family who lived by the lake.
History you can visit without a ticket
The Starkl Museum stands outdoors, beside Hotel Starkl on Lake Bled. There is no admission fee and no guided tours: panels with texts and photographs tell the story, and the objects they describe stand right beside them.
It all began with one old photograph of the hotel with a gas pump in front of it. The hotel owner, Robert Galičič, researched the story behind it and widened it to pletna boatmaking, the mills along the Jezernica and the history of the Starkl family.
Hotel Starkl with a pump in front of the entrance, an old photograph.
Watch the film about the pump
A short film about the museum and the pump in front of Hotel Starkl. Play it with sound.
What you will see
The Wayne 615 pump
Model year 1925, the most widespread pump of the 1920s and 1930s. According to the museum, the only documented example of its kind in Slovenia.
The cars
A 1925 Ford T Doctor and a 1929 Ford A Huckster in the courtyard beside the pump.
Panels
Pletna boatmaking, the Jezernica and the economic development of the area, the chocolate bell and the story of Hotel Starkl.
By the lake since 1928
In 1928 Adolf and Josipina Starkl bought the property on the lakeshore from the bankrupt wholesaler Ivan Benko and renamed it Hotel Starkl. In front of the hotel stood the first gas pump in Bled.
War, nationalisation, a decade of denationalisation and a renovation completed by the Galičič family followed.
Beside Hotel Starkl, free entry
The museum is at the same address as the hotel: Cesta svobode 45, 4260 Bled. It is open whenever it is operating; for now it runs seasonally because it stands outdoors.