Much of the Castle like appearance seen today is a result of re-building work carried in the mid 1900's by the Galle family, who used Bistra as a Manor house. In 1945 Bistra was nationalized, and in 1951 the Technical museum of Slovenia was established at Bistra. In the Traffic department are housed the cars of ex-Yugoslav president, Josip Broz “Tito”, and other rare old vehicles, among them the first tram, which was driving around Ljubljana in 1901. In the Woodworking department is a reconstruction of first water driven saw mill in Europe. Other departments include Museum of Slovenian Hunting department, Fishing department, Forestry department, Textile department and Printing department, all of which detail specific aspects pertinent to Slovenia. By the spring of Bistra brook, a temple to the Roman God Neptune was sited. Today you can view an old working Venetian sawmill, a water-powered veneer workshop, and a reconstructed water-powered Smithy complete with water driven hammer, which represents one of the last ones of its size in Slovenia. Bistra also has its own park with large fish pond and above Bistra there is a special forest teaching path. Since 2010 a memorial plaque has been sited on the wall of the castle yard, dedicated to the brothers Jager - Franc (1869-1941); a priest and professor of Apiculture (bee-keeping) in Canada and Ivan (Franc (1871-1959); a pioneer of Modern Slovenian architecture and urbanism in Minneapolis USA. Both were born in a railway guard’s house in the forest above Bistra.
