COLLECTIONS AT BISTRA CASTLE
Traffic
Agriculture
Textile
Electricity
Forestry
Wood processing
Hunting
Fishing
IN THE BISTRA CASTLE YOU CAN ALSO VISIT
Blacksmith's
workshop
Venetian sawmill
Veneer workshop
Water-driven wheat mill
Horse mill
Museum park with fish pond
Slovene postal museum
Tomaz Godec's tannery
Forester's gravity cableways
Valvasor's graphic workshop
Hunting collection
Slovene geodetic collection
Traffic department
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This attractive department covers about 3000 m2 of total surface area. Here you can see more than 100 different road vehicles from coaches and wagons, bicycles, motorcycles to automobiles. Of exceptional quality are three separate automobile collections: a collection of automobiles made before the World War II owned by the museum, a collection of vehicles from the legacy of President Tito and a collection of automobiles from the Technical Museum of Berlin. The traffic departments includes also an exhibition on the development of gas stations and the supply of motor cars with fuel.
Agricultural department
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This department is just being established and the majority of specimens are still in depots. A visit to the department will reveal the characteristics of Slovene agricultural areas and the techniques used in various periods of history, the development of tools and working machines, as well as agricultural facilities.
Additionally we are preparing a display of the development and state of significant production and processing technologies on Slovene soil. A wooden horse-mill and two steam engines - locomobiles - are being exhibited in the newly constructed building alongside the old farm building.
A
water-driven wheat mill has been set up along the Bistra River.
Textile department
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The collection shows the technological development of two basic textile activities: spinning - from the spindle, the most primitive spinning device, and the hand-driven spinning wheel and its treadle-drive versions, to mechanical machines; weaving - from the simple, vertical loom and the horizontal wooden hand looms, to automatic looms.
An exhibition entitled Ropemaking in Slovenia has been opened to visitors, showing the history of ropemaking technology in Slovenia.
Two draper's devices have been set up on the bank of the Bistra River, one for stamping and the other for smoothing (mangling) fabrics.
From June to November 1996 an exhibition entitled "Shuttle and Needle" will take place in the exhibition hall at Bistra that will display a historic development of the sewing machine. In parallel to the exhibit a pedagogical workshop will be organised.
Forestry
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The fundamental educational goal of the Forestry Department is to present the most important processes in the forest ecosystem. You will learn about the functions and significance of a forest as a source of fresh air and the regulator of the hydrological system. A historical review of individual branches in the field of forestry is given, as well as a presentation of the modern approach to forest management, aimed at preserving the permanency and vitality of forest compositions.
Wood processing
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The use of wood is almost as old as is the human civilisation since wood is a durable material, easy to process and easily available all over the globe. The Wood Processing Department offers a display of carpentry, the wheelwright's trade, the cooper's trade, the making of wooden utensils and saw milling. It reveals various methods of processing wood into specific semiproducts and final products, including a special display of various technologies in the production of chairs, which are probably the most common products of the furniture industry.
A well-preserved, very simple Venetian sawmill and a water driven veneer workshop are situated at the very source of the Bistra River.
Slovene hunting museum
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Covers 700 m2 of exhibition space. The collection includes 1.200 specimens, primarily animal dermoplastics, trophies, hunting weapons and other hunting accessories, old records, medals etc. The specimens comprise the nucleus of the collection, while the pictures and written materials complete the presentation of the history of hunting, its organisation, gamelife in Slovenia and its protection. The permanent collection is more than 20 years old and it is being renewed permanently to withhold its actuality and attractiveness.
Fishing department
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Covers 120 m2 of exhibition space. The departments store 800 specimens, comprising fish dermoplastics, various nets and fish traps, fishing rods and other fishing tackle, as well as a variety of equipment used in fish farms. With the help of these specimens we have presented our waters and their fish population, fishing, as well as the efforts taken for protecting our waters and life in them. Apart from dermoplastics, living fish species in aquariums are exposed. Numerous information about the life in Slovene rivers are available through an interactive computer demonstration.
Slovene postal museum
The individual museum collections located in the old castle of Skofja Loka show the development of the primary task of a post-office, which has been and remains the mediation of messages between the sender and receiver. Throughout the centuries, the post-office has changed its organisational structure, methods of work, means of communication and transmission media following technical inventions and the development of economic, political and cultural life.
The most interesting part of the philatelist collection is the unique outlines of the first Slovene stamps, which were first issued in January of 1919.
Tomaz Godec's Tannery
The old tannery has been reconstructed following tradition and data provided by the area's older inhabitants. The procedures of cleaning, tanning, oiling, smoothing and breaking leather are presented in three rooms. A brook has been directed into an artificial channel running through a passage-way, and its water power was used to run barrels and tannin crushers.
Forester's gravity cableways
Among the four forester's gravity cableways planned and built by Lambert von Pantz - the technical director of KID (Industrial Association of Kranj), only one has been preserved to this day. This is the gravity cableway in Soteska, situated between Bled and Bohinj. Pantz's model of a cableway with a single suspension cable, two conical reels and an air brake was an exceptional technical innovation. Metal parts for the cableway were made in Zois's former iron foundry in Bohinjska Bistrica. The cableway operated continuously from 1882 to 1964.
Average loads of 1 m3 were transported over a height difference of 320 m and an inclination of 29o. 30 to 35 m3 of timber was brought down daily.
Valvasor's graphic workshop
Valvasor's graphic endeavours at Bogensperk are displayed in two rooms. In the first there is a presentation of Valvasor's publications printed at Bogensperk, including some examples of the graphics included in these publications. In the second room there is a reconstructed graphic workshop dating from the second half of the 17th century. The central object is undoubtedly a life-size cylinder press, which has been reconstructed to such an extent that copper engravings may be imprinted without difficulty.
Hunting collection
A small room and hallway at the Bogensperk castle have been dedicated to hunting. The collection mainly comprises the trophies of domestic hunters from the town of Litija. Among the trophies a huge bearskin of an animal, caught in the surroundings of Litija is certainly worth mentioning. In addition to these trophies, there are also picture materials - old graphics showing various hunting methods used in the past.
Slovene geodetic collection
The Slovene geodetic collection at Bogensperk has been arranged to present the development of land surveying, geodesy and cartography from their beginnings through the Roman period, the Middle Ages, followed by the period of origin and development of land registers (cadastres), the period between the two wars, the national liberation struggle and in particular their post-war development. The exhibition areas on the gallery are entirely devoted to post-war development.
DOCUMENTATION DEPARTMENT
The museum's documentary materials are stored in our administration building in Ljubljana. The central photographic library contains about 18.000 negatives, the most interesting being the photographs of technical monuments before restoration, or those which have been forever destroyed. Among the remaining documentary material (original old photographs, catalogues of firms, plans, drawings etc.), an exceptionally precious piece is the daguerreotype of Ferdinand Ramann entitled "Portrait", dating from 1853.
LIBRARY
The Technical Museum of Slovenia also has its own library with 7.174 units. Unfortunately, the library is not open to the public. Despite our numerous requests over the years, we have still not received sufficient funds to employ a librarian.
DEPOTS
Suitable depots are a primary condition for the normal work and development of a museum. This problem is the most critical in our museum. Considering the fact that all our depots can be found in attics, covering merely some ten percent of the available area, and that a considerable number of our specimens are of very large dimensions (e. g. wagons, automobiles, etc.), then it is quite understandable that the rooms available are neither suitable nor sufficient. This problem is also fatal for our technological history, as we are losing many precious specimens. Many of these will be impossible to replace.