Paneuropean Union is the oldest European unification movement, which advocates the political and economic unification of European nations on democratic and friendly grounds. Richard Nikolaus count of Coudenhove-Kalergi on his estate Poběžovice near Domažlice formulated the ideological concept of this movement. Coudenhove-Kalergi published his first ideas for a Paneuropean Union in 1922, and presented them a year later in his manifesto Paneuropa. The Count founded the Paneuropean Union itself in 1922 or 1923 as a direct response to the horrors of the First World War. Richard Nikolaus Coudenhove-Kalergi believed that the problems of Europe at that time lay in its outdated political structure. In his manifesto Paneuropa, published in 2023 (Czech edition Pan-Europe, 1926), he presented a vision of a united Europe as a solution to the existing problems, especially the constant mutual conflicts, wars and destruction.

The exhibition, which is a summary of the life and work of the writer, philosopher and diplomat Richard Kalergi, was opened by the Ambassador of the Czech Republic in Ljubljana, Mr. Jiří Kuděla, and the Head of the European Commission’s representation in Slovenia, Mrs. Jerneja Jug Jerše. In their speeches, they emphasised that the EU exists today thanks to him and his proposal for the unification of Europe, which we are actually living today politically united - through the structures of the European Parliament and the European Commission. Ambassador Jiří Kuděla concluded by adding that every time we hear the European anthem, Beethoven's Ode to Joy, we should remember that it was Kalergi, a dreamer from a small Czech town near the German border, who suggested it as the anthem of a united Europe.

The exhibition was created in cooperation with the National Heritage Institute, the town of Poběžovice, the Regional state archive in Pilsen, the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and graphic artist Pavel Fuksa.

Special thanks also go to Mr. Andrej Rahten from the Milko Kos Historical Institute ZRC SAZU, who outlined thoughts on Paneuropa in Slovenia in the last panel. Slovenians attended the first time ever Paneuropean Union meeting in Vienna from 3 to 6 October 1926, which brought together 2000 delegates representing twenty-four nations. Anton Korošec, leader of the Slovenian People's Party and a leading Slovenian politician between the two wars, also came to the congress, along with Josip Vilfano and Engelbert Besednjak, minority politicians from Primorska.