Top Museums in Sofia, Bulgaria

In Sofia could be found the best museums. There are over than 30 museums, where visitors can find most of Bulgarian national treasures and learn about the ups and downs of Bulgarian history. If your time in Bulgarian capital - Sofia is limited, bellow you can find the best museums to visit.

      Sofia History Museum - it is presented on two floors of the magnificent former Turkish mineral bath, just behind the mosque. Exhibitions are divided thermatically over eight chambers, with very atractive rooms, dedicated to the Bulgarian Royal Families of the late 19th  and early 20th centuries, and the findings of recent archeological digs around the town. The mineral Baths (Turkish Baths) was completed in 1913. It is decorated with elegant striped facade and ceramic decorations.

     Earth and Man National Museum is one of the biggest mineralogical museum in the world. It performs nationwide functions such as researching, conserving and presenting minerals and mineral resourses as an important part of the national heritage. The building of the Earth and Man National Museum was built at the end of 19th century and was the biggest building of the former military workshop. It is declared to be an cultural heritage. In 1986 it was given free of charge in order to house the Earth and Man museum. The building was restored and adapted for its new purposes. The museum has more than 27 000 items gathered in seven permanent exhibits. On the first floor, visitors may enjoy the giant crystal exhibit, including crystals - quartz, apatite, etc.. Visitors may view most of Bulgarian minerals on the museum's second floor. Of particular interest is the gemstone exhibit. Here are displayed almost all types, including rare precious stones. The materials in the museum are divided into seven sections. ''The Minerals of the Earth'' includes over 8000 samples from the Balkans and all around the world. ''Precious and decorative stones'' has over 2700 samples of all kinds of precious stones.

     Museum of Socialistic Art - it is a museum in Sofia, which covers the history of the communist era in Bulgaria. It was established on 19 september 2011. The museum's collection of large and small statues and paintings represents the period from 1944 to 1989 from the establishment of the People's Republic of Bulgaria to the fall of the communism. Subjects include native communist leaders such as Bulgaria's first communist leader Georgi Dimitrov and its long - ruling dictator Todor Zhivkov, as well as international communist figures like Vladimir Lenin. The museum consists of a sculpture park with an area of 7500 sqare meters and it has over 77 monumental works of sculpture. The exposure in the exhibition hall covers an area of 50 square meters and initialy showed 60 works of paintings and 25 pieces of plastic screened documentaries from the era of socialism. It even has the gigantic Red star which used to sit atop the Communist Party House in Sofia, now an administrative building for the Bulgarian National Assembly.

     National Archeological Museum in Sofia was officially opened to the public on 18th May 1905. It is hosted in an impressive old building ''Buyuk Camii'' (Grand Mosque), built from stone around 1474 under Mehmet II on 18th century. The institute is the national cooridnator of archaeological research in Bulgarian prehistory, Thracians, Classics and the Medieval periods. There are four permanent exhibitions. The Prehistory Hall with artefacts from the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Catholic, to the Middle Bronze Age of Bulgaria. Chronologically, the Central Hall starts with the Late Bronze Age and ends with the later Middle Ages and it includes Thracian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Bulgarian and Ottoman people and cultures. On display in the Middle Ages, including some of the finest Medieval wall paintings. The Vault is designed to display the extraordinary ancient treasures, Bulgaria is well known for.

National Museum of Military History - over nearly 100 years, the museum has collected almost a million items related to Bulgarian and European military history. The large museum exists since 1916. In the museum park in front and in the inner coutyard of the museum are many aircraft, tanks, vehicles, guns, weapons, uniforms and many other artefacts, from different times and countries. In the museum building itself are four levels dedicated to the large military history of Bulgaria. Keep an eye out for weapons from the imperial collections of Prince Alexander I of Battemberg, King Ferdinand and King Boris III.

     National Ethnograpic Museum is situated in the former Royal Residence in Sofia and it is established in 1892 and became and independent institution in 1906. The building of the Royal residence was declared a cultural monument by issue 40 of the State Gazette in 1978. The museum has a rich collection, divided into several items. There are over 4000 exponents from the Bulgarian way of life, typical for the period from the beginning of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century AD. Among the exhibition you can find musical instruments, spoons, etc. The museum visitors can see interesting  facts regarding the traditions and beliefs of the Bulgarian people, which were reflected in their way of life.

     National Gallery for Foreign art was opened on 5th November 1985 as an art gallery of the first international foundation in Bulgaria. As a general architectural silhouette, the Gallery building is a reconstruction of the Old State Printing House designed by the Vienna Architect - Frederich Schwauberg which was partially destroyed by bombings during the World War II. The most valuable exhibists of the Gallery funds are displayed on four floors, housed in 19 rooms, with a total exibition area of approximately 3200 square meters. The Gallery holds over 10 000 museum items - paintings, sculptures, graphic works, fine arts, etc. The National Gallery for foreign art in Sofia is the only one of its kind in the Balkans. It holds a unique collection of Christian sculpture of the Indian province who can be found only in Portugal and Great Britain. The Gallery is unique with the character of its collection - the art of distant lands, exotic nations of old and new ages.

     Sofia City Art Gallery is a museum with longstanding traditions. Its role is to present the facts of Bulgarian cultural history in a modern way by original and impressive projects. Sofia Art Gallery has some of the richest collections of Bulgarian art: 3500 paintings, 800 statues, 2800 graphics and drawings.

    National Historical Museum - it is Bulgaria's largest museum, founded on 5 May 1973. More than 700 000 cultural monuments are preserved inside, representing the history of the Bulgarian lands from the period 8000 years ago to the present day. The main museum exhibition is presented in five halls: Prehistory, Ancient Thrace, First Bulgarian Empire ( 7th-11th century), Second Bulgarian Empire (12th-14th century), The Bulgarian Lands (15th-19th century) and the Third Bulgarian Empire (1878 to the present day). The ethnograpic collection of the museum shows a reconstruction of a Renaissance school. A rich collection of stone columns and monuments from Greek, Roman and Byzantine periods are situated in the coutyard of the museum. The museum also offers a library. Souvenirs and informational materials are sold at the museum.