During the past month, the team of the National Museum of History has dedicated itself to the creation of a new exhibition space designed to show one of the most dynamic periods of the history of the Bulgarian lands – the Late Antiquity.
New exhibition space at the National History Museum dedicated to Late Antiquity
During the past month, the team of the National Museum of History has dedicated itself to the creation of a new exhibition space designed to show one of the most dynamic periods of the history of the Bulgarian lands – the Late Antiquity.
During the Late Antiquity, significant political, economic and religious changes took place in the present-day Bulgarian lands, related to the construction of a new administrative and military structure of the empire, the imposition of Christianity as the leading religion, and the building of new cult centres. At the same time, the era was marked by disastrous phenomena associated with the migration of large masses of barbarian tribes who penetrated through the Lower Danubian Limes (border) of the Eastern Roman Empire and set the stage for the permanent settlement of Goths, Slavs, Avars and Proto-Bulgarians.
Among the exhibits that are now part of the permanent exhibition of the museum can be seen extremely valuable finds, including a stone bust of Emperor Flavius Julius Valens (364 – 378), a lead funerary coffin from the Vidin region – an extremely rare find, a fragment of a silver dish from Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica), with the name of Emperor Licinius (308 – 324), dethroned in the internecine wars with Emperor Constantine the Great.
In the showcases are presented the most impressive finds from the sites that the National History Museum is exploring – Chrysotira Peninsula and Acre Peninsula, near Chernomorets, the fortresses Kalyata near Yakoruda, Bukelon, near Svilengrad, St. Archangel above the village of. Dubnitsa and many others. The ongoing archaeological research of these sites will enrich the museum’s exposition in the future.
The rescued exhibits are also extremely interesting and intriguing. The collection of the characteristic fibulae of the era, displayed in the showcases, is only a small part of the many stored in the museum’s collections. The reproduction, with original bronze elements, with silver plating, of a Roman military belt from the late 4th, early 5th century, from the region of the village of. Ribnovo, is also an exceptional find.
The exhibition “Bulgarian Lands in Late Antiquity” can be viewed in the space between halls 2 and 3 of the National Museum of History.
