Varna Archaeological Museum
Address: 41 Maria Louiza Blvd, Varna
Tel: 052/ 681 011
Working hours: Tues-Sun 10am-6pm
Tickets: adults 10 leva, children and students two leva.
The earliest worked gold in the world to have been discovered, ever, was found in the Varna region. Cultural centres greater than those of Mesopotamia and Eastern Egypt once flourished in the same area. At the Varna Archaeological Museum, examples of such past ages are on display, giving existence to what has since passed along, allowing visitors to try and fathom how life would have been 15 000 years ago.
Ghosts of another type run through the halls: the museum, which has a collection of more than 100 000 objects from the region, is housed in the stately Girls’ School, a former girls’ high school rendered in 1892-98 in the late Baroque style by Bulgarian architect Petko Momchilov. Entering the foyer, the high ceiling and curved staircase present themselves. At a little booth to the left, a queue for tickets tries to form: adults 10 leva, children and students two leva, groups of 10 or more eight leva. There doesn’t appear to be a coat check, and photography is forbidden.
Walk down the left hall, and enter the first room: on a wall, the Varna region’s archaeological history is delineated, dividing each period from the Palaeolithic era to the 19th century CE, and with images of correlating artefacts. Commendable is that almost all signage and placards have been translated into English, and correctly. Odessos (the present Varna) was one of the cities founded in the period of great Greek colonisation, around the sixth century BCE, and was an important site for commerce and cultural relations between Thrace, the Mediterranean region and the Orient. Later on, it confirmed its importance as a cradle for Christianity. In the Middle Ages, Varna was a strategic military and economic location, acting as the main seaport of Bulgaria.
This first room is dedicated to pre-history (Old and Middle Stone ages). On display are numerous tools from the Pobitite Kamuni area, made of copper, flit, stone, dating from 5000-4000 BCE. A number of them are labelled as “chance finds”.
Imagine chancing upon such a tangible piece of someone’s life, like someone 5000 years from now chancing upon your (still-intact) laptop. Or could things of today even last that long, anymore? Plastic bottles.
The museum has the richest collection of such tools from that ancient age in South East Europe.
The hall continues on to the Eneolithic Age (fifth millennium BCE). Items from the Varna Lakes area once again see day here. As a metal processing centre of the ancient world, the Varna Lakes area had a rich culture. The museum has a number of maps showing period settlements with their ancient names, giving a sense of place to something otherwise so far off. And when you think of how really far off that age is, the displays of ceramics, stone and bone tools, and personal embellishments (yes, jewellery) are even more amazing to see.
From the Bronze Age, a carved tombstone of a Thracian chieftain lays in the middle of the floor. This thick diamond-shaped slab has a charmingly crude likeness of the man.
Later Varna Lakes artefacts are especially fascinating: objects of wood have been found in the lakes, perfectly preserved. A museum photograph shows the submerged settlement of Balitata in Beloslav Lake, bringing to mind Atlantis.
In the late 15th millennium, several settlements existed along the lakes’ shores as centres of production for copper, bone and stone tools; decor of gold and semi-precious stones; and pottery. Copper products from this area traded all along the Black Sea and Mediterranean coasts, and reached the Dniester and Volga rivers. For whatever reason, around the 10th millennium, the water level in the lakes rose, thus ending the culture. The settlements are now about three to eight metres under.
The museum is probably most famous for its connexion to the Varna Eneolithic Necropolis (4600-4200 BCE). (Re-)discovered in 1972, archaeologists have uncovered more than 3000 gold objects together weighing more than six kg, and more than 200 copper, flint and stone tools found in the 294 graves at the site. In addition to material finds, the necropolis also draws interest for the different burial positions of the departed. Some were buried on their sides, in a fetal position; others were supine; still other graves were empty – symbolic markers (cenotaphs). A map-diagramme on the wall indicates the location, condition and position of the person in each grave. A number have been vandalised.
Continuing down the corridor, which will eventually bring you back to the entrance, rooms progress according to era. In hall eight, dedicated to the Classical period (sixth to fourth centuries BCE), a decree on a block of stone recognises a young man – one Diogenes, son of Aniteos – who was “a great man of noble character, who shows good disposition and devotion to the benefits of our town”, for which he received the king’s great praise. All that for remembering to make a sacrifice to an idol!
The first floor ends at about the sixth century CE, with some stones carved with Maltese crosses. After this, the upstairs leads on to the early and late Middle Ages, and finishes with the end of the Ottoman rule over Bulgaria (late 19th century). On this floor, there is the most extensive collection of mediaeval (13th-14th century) silver in the Balkans and a grand exhibit of 16th-19th century icons.
Remember that there is a second floor. I have the tendency to not realise the existence of such until too late (this having happened a number of times in random museums).
In the centre courtyard formed by the surrounding building, concerts and lectures occur. A pleasant cafe is in the basement, as is the Educational Children’s Museum and the library. Facilities enough to spend more than a pleasant day.
