National Museum of Natural History

National Museum of Natural History -
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Address:	"Tzar Osvoboditel" Blvd. No. 1 Sofia 1000 Sofia City District Bulgaria
TEL:	International Dialing Code: 359 (0)2-988-28-94: Director (0)2-987-93-26: Director (0)2-987-41-95: Administrative Director
Fax:	(0)2-988-28-94: Director
E-mail:	nmnh@nmnh.bas.bg
URL:	http://www.cl.bas.bg/nmnh

Opening Hours Admission Access Town Info Exhibitions Info Museum History

Exhibitions

Natural Science

Go to "Exhibitions Info"

Opening Hours

Open	10:00 - 18:00
Closed	Public holidays: New Year's Day, Mar. 3rd., Easter, Chiristmas

Others

• Ticket window closes at 17:00

Admission

Adult	2.00 lv.
Student	1.00 lv.
Child	Up to 18 years old	0.50 lv.
Others	• Handicapped: 0.50 lv. • Senior: 1.00 lv.

Guide/Lecture	• Bulgarian	10.00 lv.
Guide/Lecture	• English	10.00 lv.

Others

• A valid student ID must be presented for student discount.
• Guide lecture is not available in moment. However, we are planning to launch our guide lecture soon with prices above.

Access to Museum

From nearby Regional Center to Town

From Bus Station/Railway Station in Town

• By subway: Serdika Station
• By bus: take No. 9, 94, 280, or No. 306 to the bus stop "SU St. Kliment Ochridski"
• By trolleybus: take No. 1, 2, 4, or 11 to the bus stop "SU St. Kliment Ochridski" or No. 9 to the bus stop "St. Al. Nevski Square"
• By tram: take No. 20 or 22 to the bus stop "National Opera" or No. 1, 2, or 7 to "St. Nedelia Square"

Town Information

The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is situated in the center of Sofia. The Sofia Art Gallery, the Ethnographical Museum, St. Alexander Nevski Cathedral, Russian Church, and the Archeological Museum are close to NMNH.

Exhibitions Information

Number of Collection	1,183,996
Exhibition Area	1,720 m²

The museum exposition is situated on four floors.

Floor 1 acquaints visitors with the non-living nature. Here you can learn about the variety of rocks and minerals.

The acquaintance with the richness of the living nature starts on the second floor- the Fossil Animals and Plants Hall, the Fishes and Amphibians Hall, the Reptiles Hall, and the Birds Halls.

The third floor shows the diversity of recent mammals.

The fourth floor acquaints visitors with the infinite diversity of the invertebrates: the Insect exposition and the Non-insect Invertebrates Hall. On the same floor, plants are presented as well.

There is also a permanent exhibition of live animals, mainly exotic reptiles and amphibians!

Museum History

Year of Establishment	1889
Founder	Prince Ferdinand

NMNH was founded in 1889 as the Museum of Natural History of Prince Ferdinand. The exposition has been opened for visitors since 1907. Dr. Ivan Buresch, a member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) and the Museum Director from 1914 to 1947, turned it into a modern center of zoology and botany in Bulgaria and the main section of the Royal Institutes of Natural History. Since 1974, NMNH was restored as an institute within the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences under the direction of a world-renowned mineralogist, a member of the BAS, Ivan Kostov.

A Paleontological Museum in Assenovgrad was founded as a branch of NMNH in 1995. It preserves the unique and rich collection of fossil mammals collected by the local teacher Dimitar Kovachev and his students.