The museum inherited the collection of the former Museum of Capitalism History and Worker’s Revolutionary Movement (founded 1954). In 1990 after a resolution of the Ministry of Culture the exposition was closed and a new museum having different structure and content was established - the History of Varna Museum. The actual building housing the current exposition was built in 1851 for a Belgian consulate. Later it was turned into a hotel. From the end of the 19th c. to 1929 it was used for the prison. 

The new exhibition was inaugurated on November 22, 1991, situated on three floors it reveals the city development as a port, as well as a cultural, commercial, industrial and medical centre during the period 1878-1939. The museum has more than 16 000 exhibits. Among the more interesting are the first loom from 1902, а printing press from the end of the 19th, original photos and documents showing the development of the navigation and the shipbuilding.

The exposition puts an accent on the establishment of the European architectural image of Varna and its transformation into a summer capital of the Bulgarian culture. There are exhibited original photos of streets and ancient buildings, plans and maps of Varna, models of architectural elements presenting the town development and the citizens’ striving for European life style.

The exposition calls visitors’ attention to the intellectual and cultural changes in the citizen’s life. One can see the grand piano bought for the opening of the First Bulgarian Popular Music Celebrations in the summer of 1926 (forerunner of the present Varna Summer International Music Festival). The exposition on the third floor shows Varna as a resort city from 1920 – 1930. The cards, the beach accessories, old swimming suits, advertising leaflets in different languages reveal the transformation of Varna into an international sea resort.
One can be absorbed in the specific atmosphere of that time through the reproduction of an originally furnished hotel room, an eating-house, a pastry shop, a hat shop, a toy shop and a lawyer’s and insurance offices, a photographer’s atelier, a bookshop, sitting room and inner courtyard of a urban house.

In one of the museum room there is also an exposition revealing the participation of Varna citizens in the wars for national and territory unification of Bulgaria during 1885, 1912-1913 and 1915-1918.

For contacts:
Varna 9000
3 Osmi Noemvri Str.
Krasimira Tomova
tel.: +359 52 632 677