SEM's permanent exhibition, first opened in 2006, is subtitled 'The treasure house of Slovene and non-European heritage of the everyday and the festive', and as the name suggests, it aims to show the connection between the development of human culture and the effect that the natural environment has had on it. The bulk of the exhibition focuses of course on Slovene culture, and primarily covers the past several centuries, all the way up to the present day.

The exhibition is organised by theme, with some of the more interesting parts, at least for us, being Water and Earth, presenting objects used for hunting, fishing and agricultural cultivation (including a 7m-long traditional wooden fishing boat made from a single large tree), and the Social and Spiritual, which tells the stories of old customs, holidays and various folk art traditions. For children there's even a special section called Ethnoalphabet, which covers many of the same topics but in a more kid-friendly presentation from A to Z, with some interactive exhibits along the way.