A cultural center preserving Bulgarian traditions of the region of Strandzha and Sakar
The Ethnographic and Archaeological Museum in the town of Elhovo is an important cultural center, which preserves Bulgarian traditions of the region of Strandzha and Sakar.
The museum has a rich history, which started in 1958. The development of the museum includes two important years: 1966 when it was specialized as an ethnographic museum and 2008 when it was profiled as an ethnographic and archaeological museum.
The Ethnographic and Archaeological Museum of Elhovo is remarkable because:
- Its fund includes 22 000 exhibits, divided into different departments. The fund includes clothes, jewelry, items of traditional Bulgarian handicrafts and households, items used in agriculture, stock breeding, hunting, transportation, folk art.
- The museum has a photographic archive and documentary archive, which stores more than 8 000 authentic photographs and documents, connected to the development of the region of Elhovo from the National Liberation to present days.
- Here all residents and guests of the town can visit four exposition halls, organized by periods and themes. The first hall presents life of people living in the town of Elhovo and the region at the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, their means of livelihood and crafts – viticulture, agriculture, tobacco growing, and others. The second hall shows how their houses looked like, and the third hall contains an exposition of clothes, which were typical of the residents of the region and of Bulgarian immigrants from Belomorska Trakiya and Odrinska Trakiya. Expositions in the fourth hall represent traditional customs and celebrations such as Lazaruvane, the wedding ritual, Koleduvane (mummers), woodcarving and icon painting.
- The museum has a separate exhibition hall with exhibits from the archaeological richness of the town of Elhovo.
The museum in Elhovo is one of the 100 Tourist Sites of Bulgaria and it organizes exhibitions regularly. There you can see the valuables in the museum's fund, multimedia presentations, photography exhibitions, showing films about the customs and holidays of Bulgarians, and many others.
In the Ethnographic and Archaeological Museum of Elhovo you will receive information from tourist guides who present lectures and tell stories about the rich culture and traditions in the region. You can buy souvenirs, newspapers and magazines, which will remind you for your visit.
