Located on the outskirts of Sofia, the Boyana Church consists of three buildings. The eastern church is from the 10th century, enlarged at the beginning of the 13th century.
The frescoes in this second church, painted in 1259, make it one of the most important collections of medieval paintings. A third church completes the ensemble, built at the beginning of the 19th century.
This site is one of the most complete and preserved monuments of East European medieval art.
The Boyana Church is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Address: BojanaVitosha, ul. "Boyansko ezero" 3
With 700,000 exhibits, the National History Museum Sofia is the biggest in Bulgaria. It's the main attraction in the Boyana District. You'll travel through time from Prehistory through the magnificent ancient golden treasures to modern times. The museum is in the building of the former communist government house in the Boyana district, on the outskirts of Sofia.
Weapons Collection
The arms collection of the museum preserves 457 inventory units with 539 exhibits. Among them are firearms and cold steel from the Ottoman Period, as well as weapons that the Bulgarian army used. There also are war supplies for the various weapon systems. The exposition exhibits 52 units of cold steel and firearms.
The New Iron Age Collection
This collection consists of archaeological finds from excavations by the museum. There are also archaeological materials received from state institutions and private persons. It comprises various groups of objects, made of different materials, that date from the 6th century BC to the 1st century BC.
The group of offensive and defensive armaments, harness parts and decorations, adornments and belt decorations, household objects, cult objects, tombstones, and epigraph monuments are very important.
The period from the 5th century BC to the 4th century BC was a booming period for the development of the ancient Thracians. The strong Odrysian kingdom became an important state on the Balkan Peninsula. The objects placed as grave offerings during the burial of a member of the royal family, discovered in the Tumulus of Golyamata Mogila date from this period.
Very impressive objects from the same grave are:
- a bronze helmet decorated with snake-formed ornaments;
- iron armor that consists of dozens of thousands of iron scales sewn on leather bases;
- iron spearheads that impress the visitors with their dimensions and a piece of decorated cloth, made of silk and hemp and dyed with ancient purple.
The museum collection includes gold pectorals – insignia of power, exquisite silver vessels – one of which belonged to the Thracian king Kotys I, and gold and silver items found in rich graves of Thracian aristocrats. The armaments from this period include bronze helmets of Corinthian, Chalcidice, and Thracian type (one of them with silver ornaments), two parts bronze armor; iron spearheads and curved combat knives, bronze arrowheads and lead balls for a sling.
Thracian grave
The collection preserves a considerable number of archaeological monuments that date from the end of the 4th to the 1st century BC (the Hellenic period). The most interesting complex of archaeological finds is from a burial mound near Sinemorets. A grave of a cremated Thracian gentle-woman dating from the middle of the 3rd century BC surfaced.
The rich grave offerings include a gold wreath, a gold tiara with a filigree inscription, gold earrings that are superb exquisite pieces of craftsmanship, silver ornaments, and cult objects made of fired clay. The armaments of the collection on display are long iron Celtic swords, spearheads, bits, and spurs typical for the period.
There's also an impressive full set of battle equipment of a warrior. An iron helmet of the Thracian type, and a sheathed sword. His grave showed up under a burial mound near Sheynovo. Three bronze torques and two bronze fibulae testify to the high status of the buried man. Models of a specific Thracian weapon, the rhomphaia, are very interesting. They are long iron swords with a fine edge that continues in a narrow solid base with a grip at the end.
Address: BoyanaVitosha, ul. "Vitoshko lale" 16