If you’d like to learn a little about the way of life, traditions and history of Bulgaria, we recommend a visit to the National Ethnographic Museum. Today it is housed in the former Royal Palace, where it shares the building with the National Art Gallery. Its history dates back to 1892, when the so-called People’s Museum was established. 

It houses several departments, one of which is the Ethnographic Department. In 1906, at the suggestion of Prof. Ivan Shishmanov, the National Museum was divided into two sections — Archaeological and Ethnographic.  Its first director — the distinguished scholar, politician, ethnographer and museologist Dimitar Marinov — organised the museum’s work according to the European model and laid the foundations for many of its collections. He travelled to various parts of Bulgaria and purchased a large number of items for the museum’s collection. One of the greatest achievements of this tireless enlightener was the creation of a profoundly positive attitude among the public of the time towards Bulgarian folk culture. 

Today, the collections of the National Ethnographic Museum hold 55,000 artefacts representing the material culture of the Bulgarian people from the country’s current territories, as well as from Macedonia, the Western Outlands, Northern Dobruja, Banat and Bessarabia.

The museum’s collection is divided into 13 different sections, including ‘Ceramics’, ‘Jewellery’, ‘Bulgarian Folk Costumes’, ‘Copperwork’, ‘Wrought Iron’ and others. Traditional Bulgarian embroidery is showcased on embroidered skirts, shirts, lace and knitted items, whilst the livelihoods of our ancestors are represented through various tools of the trade, such as ploughs, sickles, vessels and milk-processing implements. Tools of women’s labour, together with iconostases, church doors, spoons, stools and candlesticks, are grouped in the collection ‘Woodcarving. Domestic Crafts and Household Goods’. Textiles are divided into two collections: ‘Small’ – aprons, belts, bags, and tablecloths – and ‘Large’, which houses the famous Chiprovtsi, Kotlen, and other carpets. Also of interest is the collection “Customs and Ritual Props”, which features objects linked to the beliefs, healing and magical practices of Bulgarians in the past: ritual loaves, kukeri masks, surva sticks and amulets. 

The National Ethnographic Museum also houses a ‘Foreign Art’ collection, featuring artefacts from other European cultures, as well as from Africa, Asia and South America, and has a lovely shop selling souvenirs from Bulgaria.