site.btaExhibitions of Varna Regional History Museum to Tour Bulgaria and Romania

Four exhibitions of the Regional Museum of History in the Black Sea city of Varna will tour Bulgaria and the Romanian capital Bucharest this year, archaeologist Vladimir Slavchev told BTA.

Replicas of the finds from Grave No. 36 of the Varna Chalcolithic Necropolis will go on display at the History Museum of Popovo, in the northeastern region of Targovishte, in the middle of April. The originals recently returned from exhibitions in the United States and Canada and can be seen at the Varna Museum of Archaeology. The items showcase the latest results of the exploration of the necropolis and highlight its importance for the study of Balkan pre-history, Slavchev said.

Two events planned for May 18, International Museum Day, are partly related to the Varna Necropolis. A collection of posters presenting the discoveries made at the site over the last 50 years will be shown in Lom, marking the reopening of the local museum after a lengthy renovation. This will be the first visit of the Varna Museum of History to the Danubian town.

Around the same time, Varna will contribute to an exhibition in Pleven, North Central Bulgaria dedicated to the emergence of the earliest states. The idea is to present developments in our region during the Copper Age, which predated the emergence of the oldest states in Egypt and Mesopotamia. A thousand years before these well-known civilizations, similar processes started to unfold here in our land, but a climate crisis at the end of the 5th millennium BC put an end to what was a remarkable society which, however, did not cross the line into statehood, Slavchev said. The Pleven show will include exhibits from many Bulgarian museums. The Varna Necropolis will be among the highlights as it clearly shows early signs of power mechanisms and proto-state symbols, the expert noted.

In the middle of October, a selection of the most important artifacts from the Varna Regional Museum of History will travel to Bucharest. The working title of the exhibition is "The World of the Dead." It will present the evolution of burial practices from the Copper Age to the Late Middle Ages. The visit to the Romanian capital is planned under an agreement on cooperation with the Bucharest Municipality Museum signed last year. Currently, a historical exposition from the Romanian museum is in Varna, featuring objects, maps and artworks which highlight the links among the territories along the Danube River in the 19th century, the scholar said.