National History Museum was founded on 5 May 1973. It is the national treasury of the Republic of Bulgaria; a depository of relics of global scale and one of the biggest history museums on the Balkan Peninsula. It houses over 650 000 cultural monuments and huge archaeological and historical archives.

 

A number of exhibits outline the glory of the medieval Bulgarian state – the third European empire (after the Byzantine Еmpire and Francia): stone columns with chronicle, triumphal, construction and memorial inscriptions; bulla seals that belonged to Tsar Boris-Mikhail (852 – 889), Tsar Simeon the Great (893 – 927) and Tsar Petar (927 – 970); rich collections of dishes, pectoral crosses, adornments, the biggest Bulgarian medieval golden ring (61.15gr) that belonged to Tsar Kaloyan (1197 – 1207), 11 silver and gold treasures, coins and armaments. Works from the Preslav and Ohrid literary and religious school and others are evidence of the epochal deeds of brothers St. St. Cyril and Methodius who made a revolution in Medieval Europe by creating the Slavic alphabet in 855.

 

The collections are divided into the following expositions: Hall 1 – the Bulgarian lands from the beginning of the 6^th millennium BC till the end of the 2^nd millennium BC; Hall 2 - the Bulgarian lands from the end of the 6^th century BC till the 6^th century AD; Hall 3 – the Bulgarian state in the Middle Ages (7^th-14^th century); Hall 4 – the Bulgarian lands under Ottoman rule – 1396 – 1878; Hall 5 – Third Bulgarian Kingdom – 1878-1946; ‘Ethnography’ Hall – Bulgarian national culture. Calendar holidays. National costume; ‘Numismatics’ Hall; Revival school – replica. Bulgarian national culture. ‘Traditional Weaving Workshop’ Hall; Bulgarian National Culture. Bulgarian Revival Interior – a replica of the dining room in Yorgovata House in the town of Teteven; ‘Donated by the Stanchovi family’ Hall; ‘Donated by Boyan Radev’ Hall and ‘Antarctica – Bulgarian icy fairy-tale.’