Ethnography
The museum’s Ethnographic Department stores more than 7,000 movable cultural riches, which reveal some of the region’s unique ethnocultural diversity.
The department has one-of-a-kind objects, examples of the development of local crafts during the 18th-19th centuries. The traditional garments, textiles and jewelry show the ethno-cultural richness and complexity, typical for the Ludogorie Region.
The scientific research is dedicated to the diverse cultural traditions of the ethnical, ethnographical and religious groups.
History of the Bulgarian lands in the 15th – 19th century
The department covers the period from the late Middle Ages to Bulgaria’s Liberation from Ottoman rule in 1878. The collected movable cultural riches are a reflection of society’s development in Razgrad and the region from that period.
The section holds documents and personal belongings of people, who participated in Razgrad’s social, political and cultural life. It also has a set of documents, translated from Ottoman Turkish language, that depict life in the Ludogorie between the 15th-19th centuries.
The departments’ research activity in local and foreign archives focuses on the exploration of documents and items, concerning the history of the region.
Scientific work is being carried out in close collaboration with various colleagues from other museums, as well as specialists from Bulgarian universities. There is also an ongoing partnership with colleagues from other cultural institutions: “Prof. Boyan Penev” Regional Library, State Archives of Razgrad and “Razvitie” Cultural Club.
Modern History
The department keeps more than 8,000 objects. They represent Razgrad and the urban lifestyle, music history, educational, cultural, social and political life from the 70’s of the 19th century to the Second World War.
The vast collection of movable cultural riches consists of unique clothing, dated from the period, accessories, objects and furniture, typical for the urban way of life, as well as musical instruments. Over the last few years the department’s collecting and research work has been focusing on the study of military history. As a result, the archive contains a plentiful collection of signs of honor and medals and belongings of the participants in the wars.
Contemporary History
The collecting activity in this department includes Razgrad’s overall political, economic and cultural life during the period of Socialism and the years after. The section has more than 16,000 items. All-together, they are a display of the lifestyle in the second half of the 20th century, as well as various areas of life during the Socialist and Post-socialist periods. Among the separate fund units are two torches, used in carrying of the Olympic flame in Munich in 1972 and in Moscow in 1980. There are also various types of watches, badges, signs of honor, medals, military uniforms, cards, brochures, prints, photos, etc.
Archaeology
The Archaeology department of RMH – Razgrad contains more than 8,000 movable cultural riches, dating from the Late Paleolithic Period to the Ottoman-Turkish rule in the Bulgarian lands.
A collection of late Paleolithic flint tools is assembled in “Chukata” Area, nearby Razgrad.
The late Eneolithic finds are numerous – stone, flint and bone tools, ceramic vessels of various shapes, sizes and ornaments, idol plastic arts, ceramic house models, decorations. Most representative exponents of this period are the anthropomorphic tool from the settlement mound near the village of Radingrad (the so called “Radingrad Venus”), the zoomorphic tool from the settlement mound of “Voyna”- near the village of “Golyam Izvor”, the big marble statuette of the goddess – mother from the village of Blagoevo land and the golden application from the necropolis at Radingrad. During the Late Stone Age, the Ludogorie served as a center of quality flint extraction and manufacture of flint tools, which were traded in European regions, remote from the heart of production. There was a well-developed life in the settlement of Razgrad region during the Bronze Age and especially the later stage. This period is represented well in Razgrad’s museum. The archives store the world-famous, largest of its kind in Europe, collective find of stone molds from the land of the village of Pobit Kamyk. They were used for casting bronze tools, weapons, ornaments and signs of power. Also in the fund is the sword-rapier Mycenaean type from the village of Yankovo. The transition to the Early Iron Age can be seen in the eponymous find of pottery from the village of Cherkovna.
Also numerous are artifacts from the Thracian period. Among the most significant ones are the Sveshtarska Royal Tomb finds, the recent years finds of burial mounds in the same area, as well as the unique part of the golden statuette or rhyton with protomai/the forepart/ of the mythical horse Pegasus.
Abritus is the most significant settlement in the region during Roman times and the late Antiquity period. That is why, naturally, the museum’s archives hold the largest number of artifacts from the 2nd – 6th centuries AD. Among them, the ones with higher cultural and scientific value are the following: the numerous epigraphic monuments, the bronze mask – helmet, the collective finds of 17 bronze votive tablets – matrices with images of deities from the Greco-Roman, Asia Minor and Middle Eastern pantheons, the representative collection of marble votive tablets of various deities, the unique silver belt garnish of beneficiarius consularis – a burial find from the village of Lipnik. There is an established collection with a remarkable scientific value. It contains Roman weapons, dated from the Roman army’s catastrophic defeat in the battle of Abritus, when in 251 Emperor Trajan Decius (249 – 251) was killed by the Goths.
Another collection, representational of the museum, is dated from the period of the First Bulgarian Empire: pottery from pagan and Christian times, weapons, belt applications and straps, bronze pectoral crosses.
Because of lack of researched settlements during the Second Bulgarian Empire in Razgrad region, the period is poorly represented in the museum’s archives: small number of tools, iron maces, fully preserved braided armour and several silver earrings – ear-muffs.
The Numismatic fund of RMH – Razgrad contains around 13 thousand coins, dating from the 5th century BC to present days. Significant number of these coins is part of 45 collective findings. Hellenistic Period finds are those of the village of Samuil (tetradrachms, Aleksandrov type), the village of Malyk Porovets (tetradrachms and drachmas, Aleksandrov type) and of Kamenovo village (barbarized imitations of the tetradrachms of Philip III Arideus). Great number of coin vaults date from the Roman Empire. Most of them were hidden or lost during the events of 251 – the fall of Trajan Decius’ army and the following ransacking the area by the victorious Goths: the finds from Dryanovets Village (aureas, denarius and antoninians), the villages of Ezerche and Lipnik (denarius and antoninians), Abritus (antoninians), Golyam Izvor Villgae (antonians and autonomous bronze coins of city governments), from the villages of Belintsi, Krivitsa and Poroishte (autonomous bronze coins of city governments). In 1971, during archaeological excavations near the eastern fortress wall of Abritus, the country’s largest gold coin treasure was discovered, dated from late antiquity – 835 solidi from the 5th century AD.