Yurdan Kantardjiev

(1862-1919)

Officer of the reserve, a writer and a translator. Initiator and one of the founders of the Bulgarian Archaeological Society - Pleven branch, 1903.

Ivan Danov (1880-1947)

Culture and library club figure. Secretary of the Archaeological Society in Pleven from 1909. Until the end of his life he worked for expanding the museum collection and popularizing the historic past of Pleven.

The history of the town of Pleven and the other towns and villages in the adjoining district is century-old and very rich. The town is situated in the central part of the Danube plain. Typical for the district is its rich geological past. The palaeontological findings provide evidence for the existence of life dating back to 70 million years ago.

The rich historical past and the preserved ruins of antique fortresses and settlements soon directed the interest of Pleven and enthusiasts to their investigation. In 1903 an Archaeological Society was established. It set itself a task of establishing a museum and began tracking out and studying the monuments related to the past of the town and the whole region. In May 1905, under the guidance of Yurdan Kantarjiev, the Society organized and carried out its first archaeological excavations of Storgozia fortress in Kailaka park, near Pleven.

The materials about the past of Pleven found at the site allowed the Archaeological Society to show its first museum collection in 1911. Later.on (after 1923) this activity went on under the guidance of cultural club “Saglasie”, where all the collected materials were moved in and a museum was established. But the museum work in Pleven marked greatest development after 1953, when the State Historical Museum was established.

By government decree No 153 of the Bulgarian Council Cf ministers from July 1st, 2000, the museum is reorganized into Regional Historical Museum - Pleven covering the territory of Pleven and Lovech region in its activities.

In 1984 the museum was moved to an impressive two-story building of architectural and historical value, built 1884 - 1888 to be barracks after the design of an Italian architect.

As a result of three generations selfless and patriotic work of museum employees, today the Historical Museum in Pleven is one of the best, and among the museums with the richest expositions in Bulgaria, in possession of over 180 000 museum valuables - documentary and material evidence of history, material and spiritual culture, samples of animate and inanimate nature, part and parcel of our cultural and historical heritage. With their high artistic, historical and natural science value they are extremely valuable evidence not only of Bulgarian history and culture, of the palaeontological and anthropological past of the town of Pleven and its region, but also of the history of other cultures and peoples that have left lasting traces on our lands and in the European cultural space as well.