Natural History Museum

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The Natural History Museum in Kotel occupies a prominent place in the museum network of the country and has established itself as a cultural and educational institution not only on a regional scale but also on a national scale. It contributes to the right solution of one of the most important problems of our time:

  1. Display of the natural diversity in the Eastern Balkan Mountains;
  2. Promoting and respecting the nature conservation idea;
  3. Keeping the harmony between man and nature.

Its founder is the teacher - naturalist Vassil Georgiev / 1875 - 1963 /. Born in Kotel, he studied and collected various species of the region for 60 years and created a rich collection of fossils, insects, fish, amphibians, mammals, reptiles and birds. Thus, the museum today can see to a considerable extent the natural wealth of Eastern Stara Planina mountain.

In 1951, a commission of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, headed by Professor Neno Atanasov, examines the available collections, assesses their scientific value and decides to be promoted in the form of a museum.

In the following 1952 the exhibition of the first provincial Museum of Natural History in Bulgaria is opened in the patriotic building of the Kotel community.

The new building where the museum is housed today was built in 1981 in honor of the opening of the celebrations for 1300 years since the founding of the Bulgarian state.

The museum exhibition features over 30,000 species that show the region's natural diversity. The exhibition is organized on ecological principles and occupies an area of ​​1000 square meters, which places the Natural History Museum in second place after that in Bucharest. The lifestyles and habitats of individual species are shown in an environment that recreates their natural scenery. Rare species endangered by extinction such as: droop, black vulture, black stork, rock eagle, otter, brown bear. Of particular interest are the donated royal penguin, mongoose, crocodile and others.

The Balkan around Kotel is kind of beautiful and attractive with the highest point - peak Razboina 1128m. The slopes are covered with beech and oak forests, artificially planted pine trees, meadows soaked with the aroma of thousands of herbs and grasses, rock formations, cold clear springs with waterfalls and thresholds, beautiful and secret caves - over 125 in the city.

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Director: Zahari Stoyanov
Tel: +359 (0) 453/42355

Opening Hours:
9 am - 6 pm