Collection "Jewelry" from the fund of the National History Museum contains more than 9000 pieces of movable cultural assets that have entered the NIM since 1975 until now.

More than 2/3 of the collection contains traditional ornaments worn by Bulgarian women from the XNUMXth to the beginning of the XNUMXth century. Examples of Bulgarian goldsmithing from the Renaissance period are represented by head ornaments - tepelaks (round, decorated tiles, sewn onto a small cap). , hairpins, which also served to fasten the cloth, headbands, chinstraps, earrings and nosebands (similar to earrings, but attached to a textile band above the ears), for the body and hands - necklaces, belts, pafts (metal buckles for belts) , bracelets and rings.

In response to the increased aesthetic demands of the Bulgarians, the increased material possibilities and the strengthening national self-confidence, in the famous goldsmiths' workshops in Sofia, Plovdiv, Tarnovo, Sliven, Chiprovtsi, Vidin, Vratsa, jewelry was made, combining the old traditions of Bulgarian goldsmithing with influences and borrowings from various Eastern and Western European decorative styles of artistic metalwork. Through the application of traditional and new technologies such as casting, forging, filigree, chiselling, granulation, enameling, etc., skilled master goldsmiths create unique examples of goldsmith's art. The preferred material for work is silver, bronze and gold, selected according to the aesthetic needs and material capabilities of the clients.

The works of modern goldsmith's art included in the collection represent accessories - additions to the urban outfit from the beginning of the XNUMXth century. They illustrate the heightened aesthetic demands of the modern Bulgarian woman and reveal her sense of elegance and aesthetics.

The collection of ornaments stored in the National History Museum presents the development, specificity, artistic and technological achievements of Bulgarian applied art, as well as its coded messages. Conceived as mystical means of protection, refined and aesthetically enriched, metal ornaments are an inseparable part of a Bulgarian woman's clothing. With their perfect shapes and combinations of colors, they give it a unique color that emphasizes the Bulgarian identity. In addition, the ornaments also possess functional qualities depending on their specific purpose – to be attached to the headscarf, to stretch the hair, to tighten the clothing at the waist, to enrich the decoration of the bosom or to bewitch with their specific, magical ringing.

The National History Museum also owns a collection of brooches and pins with the monograms of the rulers of the Third Bulgarian Kingdom and members of their families, which were presented to prominent political figures and associates.