The National Archaeological Museum (Bulgarian: Национален археологически музей, Natsionalen arheologicheski muzey) is an archaeological museum in the centre of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. It occupies the building of the largest and oldest former Ottoman mosque in the city, Büyük camii ("Grand Mosque"), built from stone around 1474 under Mehmed II. The museum was established as a separate entity in 1893 as the National Museum directed by the Czech Václav Dobrusky with its headquarters in the former mosque that previously housed the National Library between 1880 and 1893.

The museum was officially opened and inaugurated in 1905, as by then all archaeological exhibits previously kept all over the city were moved there, in the presence of Knyaz Ferdinand of Bulgaria and Minister of Enlightenment Ivan Shishmanov.

Several additional halls and administrative buildings of the museum were constructed in the following years, which continues to use the historic stone building of the old mosque despite the often unfavourable conditions, notably the humidity in the summer. The museum has five exhibition halls: Central Hall, Prehistory, Middle Ages, Treasure, and a special temporary exhibition. It is managed by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

The Earth and Man National Museum (Bulgarian: Национален музей „Земята и хората“, romanized Natsionalen muzey „Zemyata i horata“) is a mineralogical museum in the centre of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

It was founded on 30 December 1985 and opened for visitors on 19 June 1987. The museum is situated in a reconstructed and adapted historic building with an area of 4,000 m² constructed in the end of the 19th century (1896-1898). It has a number of exhibition halls, stock premises, laboratories, a video room and a conference room. In addition to natural minerals, it also displays man-made ceramics prepared by Bulgarian scientists.

Apart from its permanent expositions related to mineral diversity, the museum also often hosts expositions connected with various other topics as well as concerts.

The Etar Architectural-Ethnographic Complex (Bulgarian: Архитектурно-етнографски комплекс „Етър“, usually referred to as Етъра, Etara) is an open-air museum 8 km south of Gabrovo in northern Bulgaria that presents the Bulgarian customs, culture and craftsmanship. It spans over an area of 7 ha and contains a total of 50 objects, including water installations and houses with craftsmen's workshops attached. As a whole, the complex's goal is to illustrate the architecture, way of life and economy of Gabrovo and the region during the Bulgarian National Revival.

The museum's construction started in 1963 under the direction and project of Lazar Donkov. The pre-existing Karadzheyka water-mill, built around 1780, was thoroughly reconstructed, with the other objects being constructed later. The complex was opened on 7 September 1964 and proclaimed a national park in 1967, as well as a monument of culture in 1971.

The park features typical Bulgarian revival houses with two floors, bay windows, a clock tower, and a beautifully decorated house by Saakov featuring 21 windows. Using original instruments and following the old traditions, locals represent around 20 characteristics of the regional crafts such as wood-carving, pottery, coppersmith crafts, furriery, cutlery making, needlework etc. There are shops for souvenirs, tourists can enjoy the luxury of a local three star hotel with a bar and a restaurant. There are numerous restaurants in the park where tourist could enjoy the delicacies of local Bulgarian cuisine. There are visitors to the park, from all over the world, all the year round, especially during the annual Christian festivals celebrated in the park, namely, Palm Sunday and Easter. A tourist can become a first-hand witness of these festivals, and observe local traditional rituals.

The National Historical Museum (Национален исторически музей, Natsionalen istoricheski muzey) in Sofia is Bulgaria's largest museum. It was founded on 5 May 1973 and its first representative exposition was opened in 1984 to commemorate 1300 years of Bulgarian history. The museum was moved to a former governmental residence in 2000 and currently stores and owns over 650,000 objects connected to archaeology, fine arts, history and ethnography, exhibiting about 10% of all.

The National Historical Museum disposes of a cloakroom, a buffet, a museum library and a souvenir shop, also offering professional conservation and restoration of historical monuments, authenticity investigations and expert valuation.

The museum's current director is Bozhidar Dimitrov, a well-known historian.

The Kaliopa House (Bulgarian: Къщата на Калиопа), a popular name for the Bulgarian "Urban lifestyle of Rousse" museum (Bulgaria: Къща-музей „Градския бит на Русе“), was built in 1864. According to a legend, the house was bestowed upon the beautiful Kaliopa (born Maria Kalish), the wife of the Prussian consul Kalish, by the governor of the Danubian Vilayet, Midhat Pasha, who was in love with her.

The facade's design resembles the style of houses in Plovdiv. The frescoes at the upper floor were crafted in 1896. The exposition represents the role of Rousse as a gateway towards Europe, and the influx of European urban culture into Bulgaria at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Sample interior layouts are shown, of a drawing-room, a living-room, a music hall and a bedroom, with furniture from Vienna, as well as collections of urban clothing, of jewelry and other accessories, of silverware (cutlery) and china, which mark the changes present in the daily life of Rousse citizens. The first grand piano, imported into Bulgaria from Vienna, can be seen here.

The National Museum of Natural History (Bulgarian: Национален природонаучен музей, Natsionalen prirodonauchen muzey; abbreviated НПМ, NMNH) of Bulgaria is a museum of natural history located in Sofia, the capital of the country. Founded in 1889, it is affiliated with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and is the first and largest museum of this kind in the Balkans.

The museum's collection includes over 400 stuffed mammals, over 1,200 species of birds, hundreds of thousands of insects and other invertebrata, as well as samples of about one quarter of the world's mineral species.

Today's National Museum of Natural History was founded in 1889 as the Natural History Museum of Knyaz Ferdinand of Bulgaria, with various foreign specialists being its directors until 1947, when the museum became part of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences' Zoological Institute. The museum became autonomous as a separate institute in the BAS system in 1974. In 1992, the Asenovgrad Palaeontology Museum, a NMNH branch in Asenovgrad, was formed.

The National Transport Museum (Bulgarian: Национален Музей на Транспорта; Natsionalen Muzey na Transporta) in Rousse, Bulgaria, is situated on the bank of the Danube, in the country's first railway station, built in 1866.

Exhibits are laid out both inside and outside the old station. Among the exhibits outside the building are two steam engines and various railroad carriages, including the personal carriage of King Ferdinand of Bulgaria and the carriage of the Turkish sultan.

The museum was named the National Museum of Railway Transport and Communications on 26 Jun 1996, commemorating the 100th anniversary of railroads in Bulgaria, and the building was declared a historical landmark. The museum's exhibits have been used in the films Capitan Petko Voivoda („Капитан Петко Войвода“), Records of Bulgarian Uprisings („Записки по българските въстания“), and the Russian-Bulgarian production Turkish Gambit.

Pleven Epopee 1877, more commonly known as Pleven Panorama, is a panorama located in Pleven, Bulgaria, depicting the events of the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-78, specifically the five-month Siege of Pleven (Pleven Epopee) which made the city internationally famous and which contributed to the Liberation of Bulgaria after five centuries of Ottoman rule. Pleven's Epopee 1877 is one of the most recognizable symbols of the town of Pleven.

The panorama was created by 11 Russian and two Bulgarian artists and combines painting, plastics and architecture. It was contructed in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Pleven Epopee and was officially unveiled on 10 December 1977. It is one of the largest panoramas in the world.

The panorama expanded the already exisiting Skobelev Park, which is located on the site where the battle took place.

The architectural unit is composed of four rooms: introductory, panoramic, diorame and finale. The six canvases of the introductory room discover the tragic destiny of the people, their dramatic fight and their compassion to the fellow Russian soldiers.

The combination of the canvas (115 x 15 m), the foreground (12 m) and the illumination creates a feeling of authenticity and empathy to the battle fought on 11 September 1877. The spectator is in the middle of the battlefield, surrounded by an attacking Russian regiment, smoking shells, a doctor and a nurse, the attack of the Turkish cavalry, burning fires in the city, and the Russian General Mikhail Skobelev conducting an attack against the Ottoman fortification.

The Pleven Panorama is a touristic and historical point of interest. In the first three years after its opening, 2.5 million people visited the panorama. The monument is one of about 140 built by the people of Pleven in tribute to the battle and to the nearly 35,000 lives lost. It is considered by many to be the most attractive of these monuments.

The Ethnographical museum in Varna is in a house built about 1860 as well as in an annex which is harmoniously connected with the old building located in 22 Panaguyrishte Street.
The collection of exhibits gives a true idea of the rich variety in the way of living and culture of the population inhabiting Varna district during the last years of the 19 th and the beginning of the 20 th century.
On the first floor are displayed the main means of livelihood: farming, stock-breeding, fishing, apiculture , vine-growing and wine-producing. Various tools and products of certain occupations typical for the district of Varna are illustrated e.g. brazier’s produce, leather manufacture, homespun tailoring, cooperage.

TRADITIONS

 

The national costumes reveal the demographic peculiarities of the population in the district. The adornments on display, including belt buckles, belts, rings, bracelets, etc. have been used as accessories to the clothing. The festive and family traditions such as wedding, Christmas, New Year tide, “Petlyov” Day, St. Lazar’s Day, St. George’s Day, Easter, the New Year ritual “Kamili” and some others are illustrated by folk dresses and ritual requisite. The interior decoration of a wealthy city house is displayed on the third floor. There is a reception hall, a parlour, a bedroom and a kitchen.

 

The Archaeological Museum in Varna is housed in the magnificent building, which is designed by the Bulgarian architect Petko Momchilov. Today it keeps over 55,000 exhibits. They date from the Paleolithic era (the Old Stone Age) to the late Middle ages. The first exhibits making up the two main departments - Art and Archeology were entered in the depository of the museum in 1888 when a group of teachers lead my Karel Shkorpil laid the beginning of the museum collection. The visitors can see extremely valuable exhibit linked with the ancient Thracian culture, Slav and Proto-Bulgarian pottery, jewelry from the Middle Ages and others. The museum has a rich collection of tomb stones that any European museum would be proud to possess. The collection of icons include some masterpieces of icon painting from the National revival period in Northeastern Bulgaria the oldest of which date back to the 16th century.
The most beautiful pieces from the rich collection of antique gold decorations belonging to the Museum are exhibited here. They were discovered in Odessos (ancient Varna), the surroundings and in the antique Marcianopolis. This fact makes them significant proofs for the aesthetic ideas and the material welfare of the population of this region throughout the Antiquity.
During the whole period of its existence which is more than 120 years the Varna Archaeological Museum has constantly carried out archaeological investigations and excavations on various sites all over Northeast Bulgaria thus enriching its funds. They now compose the Museum exhibition. The Varna Archaeological Museum keeps more than 100 000 objects – monuments of past epochs from Varna, the Region and Northeast Bulgaria. The most important of them /one tenth of the whole Museum collection/ are represented in the Museum exhibition halls.
Varna Archeological Museum hosts a special exposition of nine selected Tracian treasures.

 

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY

Collecting of marine antiques in Bulgaria began on the initiative of Russian naval officers after the foundation of the Bulgarian Navy in 1879. The formal opening of the museum was in 1923. In 1955 the Marine museum passed under the authority of the Ministry of Defence and was called Naval Museum. Nowadays the Naval Museum due to space limitations consists of expositions in two buildings. The building which houses the Naval Museum was built at the end of the last century. It is an architectural monument with Renaissance elements and some baroque borrowings.
THE MUSEUM EXPOSITION

The exposition in the main building is devoted to the history and traditions of the Bulgarian Navy and it extends over a total area of about 416 sq. m. in 11 showrooms.
On two floors, models of the Bulgarian battle ships are exposed as well as original torpedoes and a collection lighthouse optics. There are also collection of ancient anchors, figureheads, mines and uniforms of naval officers and navy men.
A special showroom is dedicated to the participation of the Bulgarian Navy in the Balkan War (1912-1913) and to its glorious victory, when on 21 November 1912, the torpedo-boat Druzki successfully attacked Turkish cruiser Hamidie.
HISTORY OF THE NAVY

There is a section devoted to the distinguished poet and navy man Nikola Vaptzarov. Today the Naval Academy in Varna is named after him.
The visitor can be acquainted with the heroic deeds of the Bulgarian Navy during the First and the Second World Wars.
THE MUSEUM EXPOSITION

In the open-air exposition of the museum there are collections of mines and ancient anchors, guns from coast guard system, a working periscope from a submarine, a working lighthouse from Varna port, the Cor Caroli yacht with which Bulgarian seafarer made the first in Bulgarian history solitary sailing around the world. The torpedo-boat Druzki in its original is turned into a museum ship. She is the last surviving example of a warship type once very common to the world’s navies, particularly the French.
The second museum exposition which is in another building extends over a total area of 360 sq. m. The development of the sea activities in Bulgaria are displayed here.
Sea culture around the Bulgarian Black Sea coast is presented by original exhibits, documents and photographs. There is the biggest collection of ship models in the country.