History Museum

The National History Museum of Sofia is situated on the outskirts of the Vitosha Mountain. The Bulgarian Museum was established in 1973 and consists of plenty of precious monuments of the Bulgarian culture and historical heritage from pre-historic time until present days.

The National History Museum undoubtedly has the finest collection. It was assembled in 1981 to celebrate 1300 years of the Bulgarian State. Thracian gold treasures, for which wide space was made, are displayed so they can be fully appreciated.

Artefacts such as bas-reliefs, ceramics and silverware reveal the achievements of the medieval capitals, and there is a rich collection of material from the National Revival period, including folk costumes, carpets and domestic items. The museum consists of relics from the earliest period up to the Middle Ages and includes gold and silver treasures (the Panagyurishte treasure), ceramics and archaeological remains.

It is worth seeing the unique findings of the Varna halcolite necropolis known as the oldest gold treasure of humankind ever found (4000 years B.C.), the Panagiurishte gold treasure (4th century B.C.), the Letnitsa treasure made of gilded silver, a column with text from the time of the Bulgarian Chan Omurtag , icons, jewellery, a gold ring which once belonged to the Bulgarian King Kaloyan (12th century), golden seals, etc.
At present the National History Museum collection consists of 650,000 items from different historical periods.