National History Museum – Sofia
The National Historical Museum 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, although only 10% of them are permanently exhibited.
The National Historical Museum consists 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 covers the whole period from prehistory to the present day. The ground floor houses relics from the earliest period up to the Middle Ages and includes gold and silver treasures (including the world famous Panagyurishte treasure), ceramics and archaeological remains. The first floor concentrates on ecclesiastical art, the 19th century Bulgarian National Revival including folk costumes, carpets and typically furnished rooms from that period.