EXHIBITION

In the first department  – VI millennium BC until the end of the II millennium BC prehistory is presented. You could see a precise copy of the oldest rock painting from Magurata cave of the III-II millennium BC, stone and metal cutting instruments, golden jewels, colourfully decorated ceramics, primitive cult figures etc.

In the second hall (the period from the end of the VI century BC until the VI century AC) the most interesting exhibits from the Thracian period. Among them is the oldest processed gold in Europe, dating back to the V century BC. At a central location, the most famous Thracian golden treasure is located – Panagyurishte treasure (since the end of the IV century BC, dating back to the time of Alexander the Great).

Additionally, an exceptionally rare and precious is the Golden orphic “book”, written with Etruscan letters. It is more than 2500 years old – small in size, yet huge in importance, evidencing the meeting and mutual penetration of the three cultures that inhabited these lands – Hellenic, Roman and Thracian. At present, worldwide they have found only single sheets of such books, and the one here is whole and even its leaves are connected by golden rings.

The third hall is Middle Ages (VII-XIV centuries) – in this period, in 681 the Bulgarian state was founded with the name it carries today. Back then, the united population of Thracians, Slavs and proto-Bulgarians laid the foundations of the Bulgarian ethnos. Inside the hall, you could see rulers’ items dating back to various epochs - 11 silver and golden treasures dating back to the First and the Second Bulgarian Kingdom, richly inscribed stone columns that witnessed glorious times and battles, personal seals of the Bulgarian rulers, rich collections of utensils, jewels, weapons and coins. One of the most interesting finding is a golden ring that belonged to king Kaloyan (1197-1207) – the biggest found Bulgarian golden medieval ring that was made of 61.15 g pure gold.

It is worth paying attention to the evidence found concerning the work of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius who created in 855 the Slavonic alphabet. This gave a start to epochal educational bloom. The Cyrillic alphabet was created and introduced that is being used by the Bulgarians and many other nations worldwide and provides the Bulgarians with the opportunity to develop their cultural independence after starting to write with their own letters.

Another event of great importance happened in the same period – the Bulgarians accepted Christianity as their official religion. They started building temples, paint churches and icons, the theme were widely spread among the exhibited items and books of this period.

The fourth hall (1396 г – 1878) starts since Bulgaria’s fall under Ottoman Rule and until Liberation. It tells about Bulgarians’ everyday life, the struggles for political and religious independence, and consequently arrived the stage called “Bulgarian Renaissance and preparation for Liberation. There are corners with items of various revolutionary and historical personalities, important original documents and flags, books, manuscripts and letters, photographs, weapons and uniforms. The recovery of a class-room dating back to those days and Bulgarian revival home dating back to this epoch is interesting.

The fifth hall is the Liberation from 1878 to present days. Among the exhibits are the coats of arms of Principality and Kingdom of Bulgaria, the Original of the First Bulgarian Constitution – Tarnovska, the medals and portraits of the Bulgarian monarchs – knyaz Alexander I Battenberg, the kings of the Cobourg dynasty – Ferdinand and Boris III, documents and personal items of famous political and cultural activists.

Additionally, one could see a golden cup, gifted to Ferdinand and his wife Maria Louisa by the prime-minister Stefan Stambolov, overcoat and hunting gun that belonged to tsar Boris III, belongings in writing of tsaritsa Yoanna, his wife – an Italian princess, golden and silver jewels with gems, clocks by worldwide established trademarks. 

In the “Ethnography” hall traditional clothing and jewels dating back to the end of the ХIХ and the beginning of the ХХ century, related to the most significant holidays of Bulgarian’s folklore calendar are exposed.

Numismatics hall exhibits whole found treasures as well as single items of coins dating back to various epochs that were found and provide lots of interesting information about the pathway of Bulgarians throughout the centuries, information about their status, belonging, well-being and commercial relations.

Before the New era, the Thracians had their metal money forms, used to make copies of popular foreign coins as well. Later on, somewhere in the I century AC, the Thracian lands became part of the Roman Empire and the population started officially working with Roman coins made of gold, silver, bronze and copper, Some local cities even got Rome’s permission to be cutting their own coins made of bronze, whereas it is worth mentioning that they could figure out their looks. In the VI – XIV century, the Byzantine coins became the most massive, and they started cutting own Bulgarian coins made of silver or copper in the end of the XII century. During the period of Ottoman Rule, in addition to the Turkish coins, the coins of numerous European countries started circulating and the Bulgarians used to travel to these countries very often.

The ranking of the four rarest coins in the museum – golden coin from the times of the ancient Macedonian town of Philippi  (IV century BC); bronze coin by the Roman emperor Britannicus (42 – 55); golden coin by the Roman empress Manlia Scantilla (193); golden coin by the Byzantine empress Irina (797 – 802)

The museum has the largest atelier for restoration and research works in Bulgaria, and its funds keep getting renewed until today. The newest finding by archaeologists is already exposed in the museum. This is a coin treasure – a jar with Medieval golden, silver coins and jewels found in 2018 during the excavations surrounding the Kaliakra fortress, located at the most protruding nose of the Back sea coastline.  It is believed the jar was hidden in the floor of a robber’s house that was burnt down, he used to rob and collect his stolen items in it.