“Earth and People” National Museum

“Earth and People” National Museum of Sofia is a state cultural institution of national importance. It assumes the general national functions to explore, acquire, study, preserve and present minerals and mineral resources as an important part of our national natural heritage.
This museum has rich and well supplied collections.
The Section of Mineral Resources of Bulgaria keeps samples from about 400 Bulgarian mineral fields and ore manifestations. The most attractive part of this museum is the exposition of Giant Crystals; it is one of the two biggest expositions all over the world. Earth Minerals is the richest systematic collection in the Balkans, including 7600 samples of 1596 mineral species, and their total number is 4200, as far as Science knows. “Minerals of Bulgaria” is the richest collection of Bulgarian minerals and contains 4191 samples. “Precious and Decorative Stones exposes 2668 samples of all kinds of precious stones.
The building of “Earth and People” National Museum was constructed at the end of the 19th century as the largest building of the then military workshop (Artillery Arsenal of Sofia). One of the first buildings of integral reinforced concrete structure. It is officially declared as an immovable cultural monument.