Guide to the collections of TMS Bistra

The first collections were dealing with forestry and hunting and opened their doors to the public in 1953. Today, more than 6000 m2 of exhibition areas are on display of 9 permanent collections, which are presented on these pages in more detail.

Guide to the collections of TMS Bistra

Technical Museum of Slovenia Collections

Printing

The Written Word: History of printing in Slovenia

The exhibition with its selected objects shows five centuries of the history of the printed word and printing technique in Slovenia – from Trubar to the end of the 20th century. It shows the development of one of the oldest media from invention to digital printing. This includes the main writing materials (i.e. materials that provide the surfaces on which humans use writing instruments to inscribe writings), as well as paper factories.
The exhibition tells the story of the beginnings of printing, globally and in Slovenia, as well as the story of Gutenberg, the invention of movable type and the first printed book in Europe. A special treat for our visitors are the facsimilia of the first two printed books in Slovenian language – Trubar’s Catechism with the Alphabet (1550) and the first Slovene translation of the Bible, Dalmatin’s Bible (1584).
At the exhibition, printing machines and devices are placed in the same order as book printing procedures: from letter casting, manual and machine typesetting to the development of printing machines and bookbinding. Devices and machines for office reproduction of the written word are also on display. Exhibit pieces show how printed materials were produced from the 15th to the 20th century.
Among other things, you can see a mould for casting lead letters, a hand setting machine with lead lettering material for hand setting, a Linotype line casting machine, and a printing machine ….

The collection is designed as a living museum: some of the machines on display are still functional so we occasionally organise demonstration workshops for our visitors. In this way, we do not only display objects, but also preserve the intangible cultural heritage, knowledge and skills that are gradually sinking into oblivion with the disappearance of old graphic professions. The exhibition of objects is complemented by archival film material with recordings from Slovenian printing houses and new recordings of testimonies of graphic masters of various professions.