National Institute of Archaeology with Museum

Национален археологически институт с музей

The National Institute of Archaeology with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences covers the complete study of the culture of tribes and peoples who have occupied present day Bulgaria from the remote past until the 18th century. NIAM-BAS is a national center and coordinator of all field research in Bulgaria and exercises scholarly and methodological control on it. The Museum of Archaeology hosts the most numerous collections in Bulgaria and its exhibitions reveal it as one of the most important centers in the country for promotion of the cultural heritage of present day Bulgaria. Its academic and museum potential turns NIAM-BAS into the biggest research archaeological unit in southeast Europe. NIAM-BAS was established in 1949 as a follower and successor of the Department of Valuables - part of the Library established in Sofia in 1878-1879 and reformed into a National Museum in 1892 - and the Bulgarian Institute of Archaeology (1921), which was the first academic institute in Bulgaria.