Former bank building to house Plovdiv’s Archaeological Museum

The former building of the Bulgarian National Bank in Plovdiv is set to be converted into a branch of the city’s Archaeological Museum, housing a new Museum of Thracian Culture. The announcement was made by Mayor Kostadin Dimitrov, while the museum’s director, Associate Professor Kostadin Kissiov, stressed the urgent need for additional space.

“Within two years our storage facilities will be full, and we will have nowhere to keep new artefacts,” Kissiov said. “Unlike in other cities, archaeological excavations in Plovdiv continue throughout the year, with between 2,000 and 3,000 new items entering the collection annually. This project will solve our storage problem for at least the next 30 to 40 years.”

The idea of establishing a Museum of Thracian Culture in Plovdiv dates back several decades. However, during excavation works at the originally designated site in 1976, workers uncovered archaeological remains, significantly delaying construction. By the start of Bulgaria’s democratic transition in 1989, the building intended to house the museum had been only partially completed and was later abandoned due to a lack of funding.

Now, with plans to repurpose the former National Bank building, there is renewed hope that the long-standing ambition of scholars and researchers of Thracian culture will finally be realised.

Text: Yoan Kolev

Editor: Elena Karkalanova