The beginning

The National Historical Museum (NIM) was established by Decree No. 90 of the Council of Ministers of May 5, 1973 "with the task of searching for, collecting, preserving, researching, promulgating and displaying tangible and documentary monuments related to the entire history of the Bulgarian people since its foundation of the Bulgarian state to this day..."

Prof. Strashimir Dimitrov was appointed as the first director of NIM in June 1974. Shortly after, the appointments of the first employees of the museum began. To provide an opportunity for their work, the City Library, which at that time was housed at 1 Gurko Street, provided them with a small room. With the enthusiasm of the first, in addition to the organizational work, these first employees of the museum begin the completion of its funds, arrange temporary exhibitions, popularize the Bulgarian cultural and historical heritage.

The very first exhibition of the museum - "Prehistoric Art in the Bulgarian Lands" (May 5, 1975) is a request for the future transcendence of the chronological boundaries laid down in the Decree on the creation of the NIM. It was soon followed by other, no less impressive exhibitions: "Bulgarian Women's Jewelry through the Ages" (October 9, 1975), "1000 Years of Bulgarian Icon" (January 16, 1976), "Thracian Art and Culture" ( April 5, 1976), "100 years since the April Uprising" (May 1976), "Culture and art of the medieval Bulgarian state" (May 17, 1977).
You can read more about the creation of NIM in Emil Tsanov's article from item 15 of Izvestiya na NIM.

In the courthouse

In 1983, NIM moved from the building of the former Russian Embassy - on "Moskovska" Street to the Courthouse, at 2 "Vitosha" Blvd.
The main task is the creation of a representative museum exhibition, which was solemnly opened on March 2, 1984, in honor of the 1300th anniversary of the foundation of the Bulgarian state. It is the work of the entire Bulgarian museum board, prominent scientists and specialists from many fields of science.

At that time, the museum exhibition occupied part of the first two floors of the monumental building of the Courthouse, located in the historically distinct center of ancient Sofia. When adapting the building for the needs of the exposition, all its features have been preserved so that the visitor can feel all its impressiveness as a great architectural monument. The area on which the exposition is located is 14000 square meters, and its chronological scope is extended from 7000 BC. until 1878

In Boyana

On April 15, 1998, with Decision No. 161 of the Council of Ministers, a new building was granted to NIM - "House No. 1", with a built-up area of ​​3300 square meters, located in the "Boyana" complex. The two years that followed, until the museum finally moved to its new building, put the museum's composition to the test, which it coped with honorably.

The new permanent exhibition was officially opened on June 29, 2000. The drastically reduced exhibition area, which initially disturbed the creators of the new exhibition, had an unexpected beneficial effect - new highlights were brought to the fore, and the historical narrative became more concentrated. This gives visitors the opportunity to get to know our country's past much better.

The merits of the new exposition have been appreciated abroad. After a number of visits to get to know representatives of European museum institutions, at the 25th official annual awards ceremony of the European Museum Forum, held from 8 to 11 May 2002 in Luxembourg, Queen Fabiola of Belgium, Patron of the Forum, presented the first special award of NIM.

Since the beginning of the 90s, the funds of the National History Museum have been enriched with exhibits from the former "Museum of the Revolutionary Movement", as well as from the "Bulgaria and the Slavic World" museum (until July 14, 1991, the "National Museum of Bulgarian-Soviet Friendship" ).