The beginning of the museum work in Kyustendil was placed in the middle of the 19th century, when a number of revivalists made the first successful attempts to study the past of Kyustendil and its surroundings, to collect and preserve valuable archaeological, ethnographic and folklore materials. The most prominent of them are Georgi Angelov Drumoharski, Petar Tsvetanov Lyubenov, Efrem Karanov, Stoyan Zaimov, Zinovi Poppetrov, Georgi Kolushki and Mihail Georgiev-Makedonski.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the large-scale archaeological investigations of Yordan Ivanov near the village of Nevestino, the town of “Moscheni” (1904-1906) and of “Hisarlaka” began in 1906 and continued in 1908-1909-1911 and 1912 ., and the excavations of the sanctuary near the village of Kopilovtsi (1911-1912) conducted by Prof. Gavril Katsarov.
The studies and publications of Konstantin Irechek, Academician Yordan Ivanov-“Northern Macedonia”, 1906, “Bulgarian Antiquities in Macedonia” and of Art. Cor. Yordan Zahariev contributed to the fruitful development of museum work and the establishment of the museum institution in Kyustendil at the beginning of the 20th century.
On November 3, 1897, the first museum collection in the city was opened at the Pedagogical School in Kyustendil, the creation of which was approved on December 1, 1897 by order No. 17323 of the Ministry of Education. It is the first school museum in South-West Bulgaria and the third in the country, after those of the Aprilov High School in Gabrovo and the Staro Zagora Boys’ Three-Class School.
At the end of 1907, the Regulations of the museum were adopted for the “Brotherhood” Community Center, which began functioning on January 1, 1908, as the second museum in the city, with the teacher Georgi Zlatevski as curator. Its creators and first curators set themselves the task with the new museum of founding “… a district museum, organized in the form of a public institution”. The program of the museum envisages the opening of the sections: community center work; domestic life; housing and furniture, subsistence, costumes, communications and trade; history and archaeology, geography; animals and minerals.
On August 6, 1944, the community center museum grew into a city museum with a gallery. Since 1960 it has been a (District) History Museum. Since 1992, it has been named after the great scientist Yordan Ivanov. In 2000 By Decree No. 153 of July 28, 2000 of the Council of Ministers was transformed into a Regional Historical Museum with headquarters in Kyustendil and carries out cultural and educational activities on the territory of Kyustendil, Pernik and Blagoevgrad regions.
Work time:
April-September: Monday-Sunday 9.30am – 12.00pm / 12.30pm – 6.00pm
October-March: Monday-Sunday 9.30am – 12.00pm / 12.30pm – 5.00pm
Holidays: none
Entrance fees:
Entrance fees for one museum exhibition:
for individual visits: adults – 5.00 BGN.
students and pensioners – 3.00 BGN.
entrance tickets for visitors with children – 3.00 BGN.
for group visits /over 10 persons/:- adults – 4.00 BGN .- students and pensioners – BGN 2.00 Entrance fees for all museum expositions (three and more): – adults – BGN 12.00 – students and pensioners – BGN 5.00 Free visit day – every last Thursday of the month. Talks: – for one museum exposition in Bulgarian – BGN 10.00 – for one museum exposition in a foreign language – BGN 20.00 – for a one-day route, including the museum expositions and cultural monuments in Kyustendil – BGN 60.00 –
for a one-day route in the region – BGN 100.00
Educational programs – Specialized children’s corner – BGN 3.00 – Museum workshop for children – BGN 4.00 per activity
Contacts:
Address: Kyustendil, Bulgaria Blvd. 55 p.k. 253
Phone: 078/ 55 00 95, 55 00 98
