The Regional History Museum of Sofia, Sofia

The Regional History Museum of Sofia, Sofia

The Regional History Museum of Sofia, formerly known as the Museum of the History of Sofia until 2016, is located in the former Central Mineral Bath building in Sofia.

Back in 1928, at the suggestion of Sofia's mayor, Vladimir Vazov, a decision was made to establish a municipal museum. The museum's inaugural permanent exhibition opened its doors at 3 Banski Square on December 1, 1941. Unfortunately, during World War II, this building was destroyed due to bombing.

Despite losing its physical space and exhibition area for many years, the museum continued its work of organizing exhibitions and fulfilling its responsibilities in researching and preserving historical artifacts on behalf of the city.

In its early years, the museum also served as a city library and archive. However, in 1952, the city art gallery, library, and archive became separate independent institutions, no longer under the museum's umbrella.

In 1998, the Municipal Enterprise "Old Sofia" was established based on the museum, eventually transforming into the Municipal Cultural Institute Museum of Sofia History in June 2012. In 1998, the Sofia Municipal Council decided to renovate the Central Municipal Mineral Bath into a museum, which officially opened its doors on September 17, 2015. By the end of 2016, the Museum of History of Sofia was granted a higher status and was restructured into the Regional History Museum - Sofia.

The museum boasts an impressive collection of over 120,000 movable cultural artifacts, with some dating back to the Neolithic Age, discovered during archaeological excavations in the Slatina district. Additionally, there is a specialized scientific library containing approximately 12,000 items, including a manuscript from 1820 and a printed book from 1714.

Want to visit this sight? Check out these Self-Guided Walking Tours in Sofia. Alternatively, you can download the mobile app "GPSmyCity: Walks in 1K+ Cities" from Apple App Store or Google Play Store. The app turns your mobile device to a personal tour guide and it works offline, so no data plan is needed when traveling abroad.

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The Regional History Museum of Sofia on Map

Sight Name: The Regional History Museum of Sofia
Sight Location: Sofia, Bulgaria (See walking tours in Sofia)
Sight Type: Museum/Gallery

Walking Tours in Sofia, Bulgaria

Create Your Own Walk in Sofia

Create Your Own Walk in Sofia

Creating your own self-guided walk in Sofia is easy and fun. Choose the city attractions that you want to see and a walk route map will be created just for you. You can even set your hotel as the start point of the walk.
Sofia Introduction Walking Tour

Sofia Introduction Walking Tour

"Ever growing, never aging" This is the motto of Sofia, capital city of Bulgaria. Under different names, the area of Sofia has had a 7,000 year history. Organized settlements around the area's hot water springs existed as early as the third millennium BC. A Thracian state union there was raided by Philip II of Macedon in 339 BC.

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Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.6 Km or 1.6 Miles
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In the not-so-distant past Bulgaria was part of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc. Today, this is one of the few countries where you can still find numerous relics of the Communist era manifested in monumental architectural landmarks. Concrete and metal were the main materials as a symbol of the industrialized nation, and the size was important too as a common architectural characteristic prescribed by...  view more

Tour Duration: 3 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 6.6 Km or 4.1 Miles

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