Museum of the “Revival and Constituent Assembly” is located in the north side of the “Unirii” Square in Veliko Tirnovo, in the old building of the Turkish mansion (police station in the Ottoman Empire).
The building is cruciform, with arch-shaped entrance in the north. It was built by Kolyo Ficheto (one of the most famous Bulgarian builders XIX) in 1872. The land, on which it is constructed is terraced and therefore, there are two levels to the north and four levels to the south.
In 1985 the building is completed and adapted to the needs of a museum. The exhibition is spreaded on three floors.
On the first floor can be viewed exhibits that illustrate the development of Christian art during the Ottoman rule (the end of fourteenth century until the end of XIXth century). The focus is laid on a collection of icons from the middle of the sixteenth century, with works of art from the school of Tryavna, primitive icons, early works of artists with academic studies – Stanislav Dospevski (1823 – 1878) and Nikolai Pavlovich (1835 – 1894).
The exhibition has presented works of carvers craftsmen – royal gates, crosses, frizzle apostle, church plates, icons found on Mount Athos, prints and shroud in 1559.
The rest of the hall presents Tirnovo economic development in the region during the Renaissance. Below are the items and documents related to the 17 practitioners from the city of 22 occupations practiced – goldsmith, ceramics, metalwork, leather processing, tailoring, fur and more.
Numerous illustrations show the internal and international relations of the merchants in Tirnovo, as well as occurence of factory production. Among the models and images presented concerning the architecture and construction development in that era,an important attention is given to magnificent monuments created by Kolyo Ficheto.
The second floor is dedicated to the major milestones and moments of national liberation struggle of the population in the region Tirnovo, during the era of Ottoman rule – outlawry movement, the various uprisings, including the uprising in April 1876, the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. A special attention is paid to the fight for an independent Bulgarian church and development of education and community activities
On the third floor, the hall, where the Constituent Assembly was held in Veliko Tirnovo in 1879 has been restored (the first National Assembly of Bulgaria after Liberation in 1878) and has been founded the development of contemporary Bulgaria.
