Regional History Museum Silistra keeps Silistra’s history since antiquity until present. Here are kept unique monuments of the Medieval Roman and Bulgarian culture of both national and international importance. Here there is an archaeological and ethnographical exhibition. The museum was built between 1923-1924, as a branch of the Romanian National Bank in the city as it was at that moment conquered by Romania. Starting with 1990 it accommodates the archaeological exhibition of the History Museum. The exhibition stretches on a 400 sqm garden organised as a lapidarium. The main collection of Silistra archaeological exhibition comprises 41,952 main artefacts and auxiliaries and – 18,721 pieces of the inventory. The collection includes monuments from the prehistoric age, antiquity and middle age. Some of the unique artefacts that can be admired are:
– Roman stone solar watch which is the oldest one found in Bulgaria
– Griffons Roman helmet – mask
– precious metals treasures found in the tombs dating from the Roman and Middle Age period;
– a chariot from the funeral of a distinguished Roman magistrate dating from the end of the 3rd century;
– The roman statue elaborated in Dorostorum, unique for the former Roman possessions;
– A golden ring belonging to one of the first Christians from the end of the 3rd century;
– Gold jewelleries collections dating back from 3rd-4th and 13th and 14th centuries;
– The column with the name of Khan Omurtag;
– Seals of important Bulgarian and byzantine leaders;
– Gold ornaments of the princesses Despoția and Despina of Drăstăr 14th century;
– Coins collections and treasures from the 4th century BC until the 8th century AD;
– One of the most important collections of medieval crosses from the 10th to the 13th century and others;
The ethnography exhibition of the museum occupies an area of 300 sq.m. It comprises tools, traditional clothing, mummers’ masks and ritual objects featuring the lifestyle and the culture of the Dobruja people in the Silistra region from the middle of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century.
It is also exhibited a traditional costume (Grebentsi).