National Archaeological Museum, Sofia (must see)

The National Archaeological Museum occupies the building of the former Grand Mahmut Pasha Mosque, the largest and oldest surviving Ottoman mosque in Sofia. Established in 1893, the museum was the first institution of its kind in Bulgaria, led by its inaugural director, the Czech archaeologist and scholar Václav Dobruský. Although modern galleries have been added through the years, the museum still operates inside its original stone structure.

The Grand Mahmut Pasha Mosque, rather than being converted into a church after the end of Ottoman rule, it was repurposed as a library and later chosen to house the new national museum. Completed in 1494, it had been commissioned by Grand Vizier Veli Mahmud Pasha, a member of the Byzantine Angelos family of Thessaloniki who was captured as a child, raised within the Ottoman system, and elevated to high office after distinguishing himself during the 1456 siege of Belgrade.

Visiting the museum, you explore five main exhibition halls: the Central Hall, Prehistory Hall, Middle Ages Hall, Treasury Hall, and a gallery for rotating temporary exhibitions. It is recommend that you start from the Prehistory Hall, located on the lower floor of the north wing. There, you can observe objects ranging from 1,600,000 BC to 1,600 BC, tracing human presence from the earliest Paleolithic evidence to the dawn of complex societies.

in the eastern wing, you can access the Treasury Hall, showcasing rare and valuable items from the Bronze Age through late Antiquity, including intricate metalwork and ritual artifacts. The vast Main Hall on the first floor presents collections from ancient Greece and Rome, while the Medieval Section on the second floor explores Bulgaria’s early Christian and medieval heritage.