Museum of National revival
Winter working hours
November – April: 10.00 – 17.00 (closed on Saturday and Sunday)
Summer working hours
May – October: 10.00 – 17.00 (closed Sunday)
Address
Varna, ul. “Doctor Lyudvig Zamenhof” 21
Phone+ 359 52 658891
+359 52 604873
About the museum
On October 4, 1959, the Museum of the Renaissance was opened in the old building of the First Bulgarian School at 27 July Street, No. 9. The building was built in 1861-1862 with funds collected by patriotic Bulgarian merchants and craftsmen; in 1865 it housed the first Bulgarian church "St. Arch. Michael". The first Bulgarian community center in Varna was opened in the same building in 1870, and the seat of the Bulgarian municipality is also there. In the years leading up to the Liberation, it became the only center of the socio-political, spiritual and cultural life of the Bulgarians from the city. After the liberation of Varna (July 27, 1878), the building of the first Bulgarian school in the city was used for a while again as a girls' school, for a few years as an elementary school, and later as a business school of the "Mother" company. Since the beginning of our century after the construction of new schools and churches, the building has been abandoned and neglected. Used as a church, at first only on holidays and Sundays, and later every day, it only became a parish in 1936.
At the beginning of the 1930s, renovation of the building and repairs began in 1932. In the same year, with great efforts, the entire eastern wall, and partly the iconostasis, were repaired. In 1933-1934, the southern and northern walls were successively replaced, and in 1936, the western one.
After the declaration of the building as a cultural monument and the preliminary decision that a small exposition on the church-national struggles before the Liberation will be arranged on its front floor, the District People's Council covers almost all the costs of the renovation. In the spring of 1958, when the restoration and strengthening of the church was completed, the District Council decided to repair the upper floor as well and, in accordance with the original project, to arrange a museum exhibition there. A new staircase was made connecting the two floors. The renovation was completed in 1959, but the finishing works were completed in July 1860, and on July 27 the museum was opened for visits. Prof. Dr. Velko Tonev (1933-2004), one of the greatest researchers of the Bulgarian Renaissance, was appointed as the first curator of the museum. The exhibition is arranged on two floors, and in one of the halls on the second floor, the classroom of the mutual school has been restored. The reconstruction was carried out according to the project of Minko Gechev, a research assistant at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. After the preparation of a thematic structure and exhibition plan, in the spring of 1963, the implementation of a complete and complete exposition for the Renaissance era in Varna and Varna was started. The artistic layout of the new exhibition was entrusted to the artist Stoyan Atanasov, who, despite the limited area, managed to realize the most important moments of the thematic structure.
The exposition was finally completed in September 1963. In it, with the help of engravings, photographs, weapons, documents, old printed books and other materials, the Renaissance era in this region was recreated in general terms.
An essential part of the fund is also the collection of church utensils, prints and icons, which, in addition to the Museum of the Renaissance, were exhibited in the church-museum of St. Atanas” and for the collection and preservation, for which the main credit goes to Prof. V. Tonev and the artist Petar Branev.
Most of the museum materials were collected by the old museum workers – brothers Shkorpil, Archimandrite Innokenty and others and were kept until 1960 in the Archaeological Museum, from where they were transferred to the Museum of the Renaissance.
The museum was housed at 27 Juli Street No. 9 until 2002, after which the materials and the collection were moved to Slavyanska Street No. 21, where thematic exhibitions were held, but without a permanent exhibition.
Since June 2006, the Museum has been moved to 21 L. Zamenhof St. in a specially renovated building in the Renaissance style, presenting a new permanent exhibition with artist-designer Tsvetana Vekova and author of the exhibition plan, chief assistant. Art. Dimitrova.
The new exposition was opened on December 20, 2006.
