Varna Educational museum

Varna Educational museum is situated on the ground floor of the Archeological museum. It was found in the distant 1986 by archeologists and museum curators Dimiter Dimitrov S.R.  and Ivan Ivanov R.S.

They create the first in Bulgaria museum for children that has its own exposition and a hall for educational purposes. It is their ambition to expand kids’ knowledge of the past. To provoke greater interest towards history and archeology by creating a non-traditional, attractive and at the same time accessible expositional area, where visitors (small and grown-up) can enjoy direct contact with museum exhibits. ‘I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand’– this ancient Chinese proverb well illustrates the idea of the museum founders. This is why they choose to name the museum Educational, not just children museum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 



The exposition depicts life of people in prehistoric age and living of Slavs and Proto-Bulgarians. Three types of dwellings are presented – prehistoric, Slavonic semi-dugout and Proto-Bulgarian yurt; tools from different ages – fist wedges, stone axes, bows, arrows, battle spear, hard-wear tools, etc. A reconstruction of a vertical loom is shown, also a mill place for grain grinding and a hand pottery wheel. All objects are replicas of genuine pieces and could be used.

In these first years the educational programs of the Educational museum are focused mainly in specialized exposition. Having closely studied the achievements in experimental archeology, curators organize several demonstrations, such as fire lightening, bone drilling, working with hand pottery wheel, etc. These activities are still raising interest in visitors, making them not merely observers, but also active participants.

In that times a substantial archive is collected of popular science movies on history and natural science. Public movie broadcastings are organized.

In the nineties, under the slogan ‘in museum we could learn while having fun’, educational programs start to develop, which present the whole exposition of the Archeological museum. They are worked out on several levels, cover different topics and correspond to the age characteristics of students. These educational projects combine playing with scientific information, demonstrations with various activities for children (completing of worksheets, drawing, working with clay).

 

Game virtual restorer      Find the secret of coins

 

 

Children books are published. The first one is ‘The Land of Gold. Tales of the archeologist’ written by Ivan Ivanov. It is followed by ‘Travel In the Past’ part I and II and ‘Coin’ by Lilyana Lipcheva, curator of the Educational museum.