management and departments

Petrich History Museum established in 2006, on the fundaments of a museum collection started in 1966, is a home of more than 18,000 museum exhibits, completed in various departments: Archaeology, Ethnography, Bulgarian Lands of the 15th-19th centuries, New and Contemporary History, Vanga exposition, Samuel’s Fortress department. In the Central Exposition Hall, the Vanga Exposition and the Samuil Fortress Department, about 3,000 exhibits are displayed. Another 15,000 exhibits are in the museum’s storehouse.

The archaeology department has 3,400 exhibits, among which stand out: the Emperor Galerius' Honorary Edict of AD 308; a unique collection of theatrical masks and terracotta figures from the 2nd-3rd centuries AD; clay figurines from the 6th millennium BC; collective find of terracotta figurines from the 3rd century AD; numismatic collection from the 6th BC to the 20th century AD. On the southern slope of the extinct volcano Kozhuh, 10 km from Petrich, there is the ancient city Heraclea Sintica with discovered, restored, and preserved the northern part of the Roman forum, the civil Roman basilica, part of the fortress wall, and many more archaeological objects.

The Samuel Fortress’s department is situated in an area of 160 decares and includes a memorial and exhibition presenting the heroic history events of the year 1014 AC

The department has 1500 exhibits: art objects, traditional costumes, household items of the local population and refugees from the Thessaloniki, Demirhisar, and Vardar regions.

The department has more than 500 exhibits, including items of local handicrafts and imports; a stamp of the Petrich municipality of 1872; seal of the municipality’s school board of 1892; ferman of Sultan Abdul Aziz II.

The department has 4,000 items distributed in inventory books New and Contemporary History, History of the Bulgarian Communist Party.

The department exhibits the home and objects related to the life of Vangelia Gushterova - Vanga.