site.btaAll Thracian Artifacts from Bulgaria Displayed at L. A.’s Getty Museum until March Can Now Be Viewed Back at Home

All artifacts which Bulgaria displayed at the Thracian treasures exhibition in Los Angeles are back in the respective Bulgarian museums and can be viewed by visitors, Deputy Culture Minister Todor Chobanov writes in his Facebook profile.

The exhibition, "Ancient Thrace and the Classical World: Treasures from Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece", was held at the J. Paul Getty Museum in L. A. from early November 2024 until late March 2025.

The items are now on display in the 14 museums in Bulgaria which contributed to the show in the United States: National Archaeology Institute and Museum under the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia; Regional Museum of History, Plovdiv; Iskra Museum of History, Kazanlak; National Museum of History, Sofia (including exhibits from Plovdiv, Vratsa, Lovech and Strelcha, which are part of the permanent displays at the National Museum of History); Regional Museum of History, Vratsa; Regional Museum of History, Targovishte; Regional Museum of History, Burgas; Ancient Nessebar Museum, Nessebar; Museum of Archaeology, Septemvri; Regional Museum of History, Veliko Tarnovo; Museum Centre, Sozopol; Museum of History, Karnobat; Museum of History, Strelcha; and Regional Museum of History, Lovech.

Bulgarian tour operators receiving groups of travellers from the United States report a manifold increase in visitor interest and bookings after the exhibition at the Getty, Chobanov says.

The show in L. A. highlighted the cultural relations between the Thracians and their neighbours over the course of two millennia from 1700 BC to 300 AD. It was opened in November by Bulgarian Vice President Iliana Iotova. In January, as wildfires raged in the Pacific Coast metropolis, the Director of Bulgaria’s National Archaeology Institute and Museum, Hristo Popov, said that the Getty was the safest possible place for the Bulgarian treasures in L. A. under the circumstances.