Plovdiv museums participate in the XVII edition of the European Night of Museums with an interesting program, free entrance and extended working hours

The 17th edition of the European Night of Museums will take place on Saturday (July 3rd), an initiative launched for the first time in 2005 by the French Ministry of Culture. In just a few years, it has been implemented throughout Europe, and Bulgarian museums and galleries were included in its first edition. 

The national program for celebrating the European initiative is traditionally prepared by the Cultural Heritage, Museums and Fine Arts Directorate at the Ministry of Culture. It includes themed exhibitions, concerts and a variety of art events dedicated to the Night of Museums. This year, 42 museums, art galleries and their branches from 21 districts in the country are joining . State and municipal museums and art galleries are participating in the initiative. Traditionally, Plovdiv always participates with an interesting program, and our museums welcome hundreds of visitors with free admission until 10 pm. In its format, the European Night of Museums is an accessible program for the widest possible circle of people who have the opportunity to meet with the exhibits and works presented by museums and galleries. The concept of the initiative is to reach a large circle of people with an emphasis - the young audience, by presenting an unusual and attractive program, which in addition to the opportunity to get acquainted with the cultural heritage, to offer other cultural events.

Held traditionally in mid-May, this year due tothe COVID pandemic, European Night of Museums will be on July 3 (Saturday) and awaits Plovdiv residents, guests of the city, families and young people - all who want to immerse themselves in the vast treasures of ancient and eternal Plovdiv.  

Here's the programme:

This year again the Ancient Plovdiv Minicipal Institute is included in the forum. The following four sites will be open for free visits: the Bishop's Basilica of Philippopolis, the Small Early Christian Basilica, the Hindliyan and Balabanov Houses. The time range for free access is from 18:00 to 21:00.

Hindliyan House and Balabanov House will take visitors to the Revival era through the magnificent wood-carved ceilings, the masterful decorations and furnishings and the famous ‘alafranga’. 

The Bishop's Basilica of Philippopolis as a visitor center with extremely high historical, artistic and scientific value, during the European Night of Museums 2021 will welcome visitors with fascinating mosaics, interactive area, playground, and in the hall for temporary exhibitions - with the recently-opened temporary exhibition “Bulgarian Sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List”. A special highlight of the European Night of Museums will be the premiere presentation of the project "Visualization through augmented and virtual reality Stage I : Baptistery in the Small Early Christian Basilica". The team of Ancient Plovdiv Minicipal Institute, in partnership with experts in the fields of modeling, simulations, virtual and augmented reality, implemented a technological upgrade that makes the Small Basilica  an even more attractive cultural and historical site. With the help of VR glasses and a special application, visitors will have the opportunity to see a 3D reconstruction of the Baptistery in the form in which it looked during its construction. The project is carried out with donations from KCM 2000 Group and the entrepreneur Nikolay Tomov. 

"We are happy that for the first time on the European Night of Museums 2021 on July 3, we will present to the citizens and guests of Plovdiv the technological novelty in the Small Basilica. It expresses our aspiration to merge the past with the present and to make the experience with the cultural heritage even more influential - share the team of the Ancient Plovdiv Minicipal Institute

City Art Gallery - Plovdiv invites you to visit three of its buildings , which will be open until 22:00 on July 3. In them the audience will see:

- "What about you?" - a diploma exhibition of bachelors in "Graphic Design and Photography" at AMTII. 18 graduates show their design projects, which they defended before the academic commission. Venue: Halls for temporary exhibitions, 15 Knyaz Alexander I Str. Working hours: from 19:30 to 22:00 - free entrance

- "PERSONA " - a joint exhibition of contemporary art by Silvia Mitovska and Petar Belev. Venue: Exhibition Hall "2019", 32 Gladstone Street, Working hours: from 10:00 to 22:00; from 18:00 to 22:00 - free entrance             

- Permanent exhibition "Icons " presents valuable examples of our iconographic heritage from the XVI - XIX century. Venue: 22 Saborna Street, Old Town Working hours: from 10:00 to 22:00, from 18:00 to 22:00 - free entrance 

Regional Ethnographic Museum - Plovdiv will be open to visitors after their regular hours as well. From 18:30 to 23:00 the entrance to the museum will be free.  

18:30 - 19:30

Piano recital of Prof. Romeo Smilkov based on works by Prof. Nikolay Stoykov. The concert is on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the birth of the famous Bulgarian composer. 

19:30 - 23:00

You will be able to see the  permanent exhibition presenting the traditional culture of Thrace, the Rhodopes and Srednogorie from the Revival period - crafts, agriculture, livestock raising, jewelry, traditional dress, fashion, interiors from different houses, musical instruments and much more.   

"Technology at home in the first half of the twentieth century" - an exhibition of the National Polytechnic Museum. The exhibition presents various household appliances used in the first half of the last century - when people started using electricity in their homes and the time of the idea for more functional living. 

"Journey through Bulgaria - landscapes" - an exhibition by Alexander Hristev - a French national with Bulgarian roots, who depicts in his paintings his most precious childhood memories of the summers spent in Bulgaria, presenting landscapes, architecture and life. 

When visiting the museum, all anti-epidemic measures are observed.

Regional History Museum - Plovdiv joins the initiative with two sites - exhibition "Unification of Bulgaria of 1885" on Saedinenie Square 1 and exhibition "Bulgarian National Revival" on 1 Tsanko Lavrenov Street in Old Plovdiv, which welcome visitors from 17.00 until 23:00. Admission will be free. 

Museum specialists have developed special initiatives dedicated to the topic "Maritsa River and the Plovdiv hills". Presentations of multimedia devices tell the story of the river and the hills, which starts from the legends, passes through the old names, predetermines the settlement and development of the ancient city and continues to happen before our eyes in the present of Plovdiv. Special educational initiatives will explain to children the facts about the emblematic natural phenomena.

The European Night of Museums is the last chance for Plovdiv residents and guests to view the temporary exhibition, arranged in the exhibition "Bulgarian National Revival" and dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Georgi Stoykov Rakovski . Highlights are the original sword of the great revivalist, owned by the Regional Historical Museum - Ruse and the plastic anthropological reconstruction of his face, created by Professor Yordan Yordanov and owned by the Institute of Experimental Morphology, Pathology and Anthropology with a museum at BAS. 

The Regional Museum of Natural History joins the European Night of Museums initiative, providing free access to the Exposition from 18:00 to 23:00. You will also have the opportunity to see the visiting exhibition "When Antarctica shows its heart to scientists"! 

The museum team asks you to show understanding and responsibility, both to other visitors and to the animals in the aquarium and terrarium. Animal anxiety can have fatal consequences!

The Regional Archaeological Museum provides free access from 10 am to 6 pm.
Visitors will enjoy the permanent exposition of the museum and the temporary exhibitions "Cinnabar - the royal colour in Thracian and Roman cultures in the Bulgarian lands" and "The Army of God".

Visits to all sites are carried out in compliance with the current anti-epidemic safety measures, according to the orders of the Minister of Health.