Exhibition dedicated to Bulgaria’s Unification opens in Plovdiv

On September 5, 2026, the “Saedinenie” Hall at the Regional History Museum-Plovdiv will host the opening of the exhibition “The Preserved Memory of the Unification of 1885 in Bulgarian Museums, Archives, Libraries and Private Collections.” The exhibition brings together documents, photographs and artefacts preserved in various cultural institutions across the country. It aims to answer the question of how the memory of one of the most significant moments in Bulgarian history has been preserved.

The exhibition also features cultural artefacts from the Regional Archaeological Museum Plovdiv and the Ivan Vazov National Library in Plovdiv, Historical Museum Chirpan, Historical Museum-Asenovgrad, and the Regional History Museum-Stara Zagora.

Among the most interesting exhibits is the flag of the Chirpan detachment. Made of green silk, it features a lion standing on a crescent moon and bears the inscriptions “Freedom or Death” and “Strength Makes Unity”.The flag bears witness to the turbulent events in Chirpan in September 1885 and the detachment’s march to Plovdiv. During the march to Plovdiv, one of the standard-bearers, Ivan Danchov, was killed, but the detachment’s flags weren’t captured.

Visitors will also see the seal of the Golyamokonarska rebel detachment from the day of the Unification of Eastern Rumelia with the Principality of Bulgaria, photographs of figures involved in the Unification and volunteers in the Serbo-Bulgarian War, as well as various archival documents related to the Unification.

Edited by Tsvetana Toncheva

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov