Educational programs and projects
Researchers at the National Museum of Natural History at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences develop various educational programs and trainings.
Weekdays and festivals — Nature in Bulgarian Traditional Culture
Project “Weekdays and festivals — Nature in Bulgarian Traditional Culture” of the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia and the National Ethnographic Museum in Sofia presents four temporary exhibitions dedicated to four seasons and four Bulgarian festivals associated with them.
The project is funded by the Culture Programme of Sofia Municipality.
Learn more about Blagovets from our brochure and the exhibitions in both museums, from 25 March to 1 July 2025.
The second festival that we will celebrate together called “Butterfly” is a custom, performed during a time of prolonged drought. Learn more from our brochure and the exhibitions in both museums, from 24 June to 10 October 2025.
Mishinden (lit. “Mouse day”) is a holiday conducted in honour of house and field mice so that they “will not cause mischief to people’s food, bedding, clothes, unspun fibres, and crops.” You can learn more about traditions from our brochure and the exhibitions in our two museums — the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia and the National Ethnographic Museum, Sofia from 10.10.2025 to 30.11.2025.
Bear Day (Saint Andrew’s Day) (November 30). In Bulgarian tradition, the bear is a symbol of motherhood and plenty, and it is forbidden to kill one that is not bloodthirsty. The bear holds a special position in Animal Kingdom — it belongs to the order Carnivora, but almost two-thirds of its food is of plant origin. It is also the only representative of this order of mammals to hibernate. Why the expression “The sun is shining, rain is falling — a bear is getting married” was born, learn from our brochure and the exhibitions in both museums, from 10 December 2025 to 28 February 2026.
“Weekdays and festivals — Nature in Bulgarian Traditional Culture” is the first joint interdisciplinary project of the National Museum of Natural History at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the National Ethnographic Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, in which entomologists and ethnologists participate.
The project team includes Assoc. Prof. Rostislav Bekchiev, Assoc. Prof. Mario Langourov, Assoc. Prof. Nikolay Simov, Silvia Tosheva, Public relations expert, Dr Zlatka Yarumova, Graphic and art design from the National Museum of Natural History and Sen. Assist. Dr Radina Ilieva, Sen. Assist. Dr Stamen Kanev, Maria Boyanova, curator and Desislava Vasova — art design from the National Ethnographic Museum.
Project “Weekdays and festivals — Nature in Bulgarian Traditional Culture” of the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia and the National Ethnographic Museum in Sofia presents four temporary exhibitions dedicated to four seasons and four Bulgarian festivals associated with them.
The project is funded by the Culture Programme of Sofia Municipality.
Learn more about Blagovets from our brochure and the exhibitions in both museums, from 25 March to 1 July 2025.
The second festival that we will celebrate together called “Butterfly” is a custom, performed during a time of prolonged drought. Learn more from our brochure and the exhibitions in both museums, from 24 June to 10 October 2025.
Mishinden (lit. “Mouse day”) is a holiday conducted in honour of house and field mice so that they “will not cause mischief to people’s food, bedding, clothes, unspun fibres, and crops.” You can learn more about traditions from our brochure and the exhibitions in our two museums — the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia and the National Ethnographic Museum, Sofia from 10.10.2025 to 30.11.2025.
Bear Day (Saint Andrew’s Day) (November 30). In Bulgarian tradition, the bear is a symbol of motherhood and plenty, and it is forbidden to kill one that is not bloodthirsty. The bear holds a special position in Animal Kingdom — it belongs to the order Carnivora, but almost two-thirds of its food is of plant origin. It is also the only representative of this order of mammals to hibernate. Why the expression “The sun is shining, rain is falling — a bear is getting married” was born, learn from our brochure and the exhibitions in both museums, from 10 December 2025 to 28 February 2026.
“Weekdays and festivals — Nature in Bulgarian Traditional Culture” is the first joint interdisciplinary project of the National Museum of Natural History at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the National Ethnographic Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, in which entomologists and ethnologists participate.
The project team includes Assoc. Prof. Rostislav Bekchiev, Assoc. Prof. Mario Langourov, Assoc. Prof. Nikolay Simov, Silvia Tosheva, Public relations expert, Dr Zlatka Yarumova, Graphic and art design from the National Museum of Natural History and Sen. Assist. Dr Radina Ilieva, Sen. Assist. Dr Stamen Kanev, Maria Boyanova, curator and Desislava Vasova — art design from the National Ethnographic Museum.
#FRESHER — European Researcher Night 2020 in National Museum of Natural History
Prof. Dr Pavel Stoev — Director of the National Museum of Natural History — BAS was invited as a guest in the scientific TV studio of Sofia Tech Park. The host in the scientific TV studio was Ms Nadya Obretenova, journalist of Bulgarian National Television.
— youtube.com/watch?v=88Rj-7qVWp8
Ecological superheroes
Batman is cool because of the bats! If you want to find out what the superpowers of the only flying mammals on the planet are or you just love chocolate, then this event is for you. The biologist from NMNHS Nia Toshkova has set a goal to make you real fans of bats. You will have the opportunity to ask your questions to Niya and her colleague, Violeta Zhelyazkova — PhD student at NMNHS right after the presentation. Moderator of the meeting: Maria Kachamakova, PhD student at the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research.
— youtube.com/watch?v=HQHQ3WbDWlo
Alimurgia into plate
Alimurgia is not a science about the Cyclops who lived in Lemuria, nor is related to the study of lemurs. This is the science of edible and usable plants. The term originates and is mainly used in Italy, where World War II had an extremely strong influence on the use of wild plants for food. Follow the conversation between journalist Rositsa Panayotova and the botanists Assoc. Prof. Dimitar Uzunov (NMNHS) and Assoc. Prof. Desislava Dimitrova (Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research) to learn more about the diversity of plant species and their use in Italy and Bulgaria.
— youtube.com/watch?v=HQHQ3WbDWlo
Biodiversity Day in Museo di Storia Naturale della Calabria e Orto Botanico Università della Calabria
We invite you to meet our colleagues from Museo di Storia Naturale della Calabria e Orto Botanico Università della Calabria who present their museum and botanic garden on the occasion of Biodiversity Day, 22 May 2020.
— facebook.com/nmnhs/videos/720111941947253/
Fossils, dinosaurs and how to find them in Bulgaria
How can we take a look into the Earth’s past? How can we unravel the mysteries of life that inhabited our planet millions of years ago? In this journey through time, Senior Assistant Dr Latinka Hristova from the National Museum of Natural History will show us how fossils retell stories. We will take a look at the world of dinosaurs and learn which of them inhabited the range of today’s Bulgaria.
— youtube.com/watch?v=o2gJTAiIOaA
Who are the agents of healthy phytocenoses
In this conversation journalist Rositsa Panayotova and the entomologists from NMNHS, Assoc. Prof. Nikolay Simov and Assoc. Prof. Mario Langourov will present to you what scientists know about the health of phytocenoses, who are the agents of healthy phytocenoses, what is written in their ‘agent files’, who and how recruited them. In search of answers, they will have to find out what their game of ‘love triangle’ is and what are the bizarre devices for attracting third parties in the relationship.
— youtube.com/watch?v=o2gJTAiIOaA
How poor our imaginations are: A story about discovering and exploring a dinosaur locality
Sometimes scientists have a very clear idea of what they will find. Other times, they are totally unprepared for what they will find, because it turns out to be more exciting and big than their wildest expectations. This is exactly the case with the palaeontological site near the town of Trun, which shook the ideas of Bulgarian scientists about life on our lands more than 80 million years ago. Join Dr Latinka Hristova and PhD student Vladimir Nikolov, who will return to the recent past to tell firsthand the story of the discovery of the field and the work of the scientific team there over the past three years. Naturally, they will not miss the expected and mostly unexpected discoveries they made during their expeditions, as well as share their plans for future exploration of the site. Although, sometimes even the wildest imagination cannot prepare us for the surprising reality that awaits us locked in the ancient rocks.
— youtube.com/watch?v=YcIYeW41vq0
‘What about bats’
What happens when a scientist meets an artist? And what happens if the research of them complements each other? How does the pandemic affect their research? The artists from the team of ‘36 monkeys’ tell about the bold hypotheses that the PhD student of BAS Antonia Hubancheva is currently proving with her experiments. From the video we learn more about the essence of scientific research, how different sciences help each other and what scientists think about the connection between the pandemic and bats. You will have the opportunity to ask your questions to the doctoral student of BAS and the Max Planck Institute of Ornithology, Antonia Hubancheva, who will join live after the video.
— youtube.com/watch?v=zJW0fDt1BZQ
— youtube.com/watch?v=hpSvovetsns
— youtube.com/watch?v=88Rj-7qVWp8
Ecological superheroes
Batman is cool because of the bats! If you want to find out what the superpowers of the only flying mammals on the planet are or you just love chocolate, then this event is for you. The biologist from NMNHS Nia Toshkova has set a goal to make you real fans of bats. You will have the opportunity to ask your questions to Niya and her colleague, Violeta Zhelyazkova — PhD student at NMNHS right after the presentation. Moderator of the meeting: Maria Kachamakova, PhD student at the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research.
— youtube.com/watch?v=HQHQ3WbDWlo
Alimurgia into plate
Alimurgia is not a science about the Cyclops who lived in Lemuria, nor is related to the study of lemurs. This is the science of edible and usable plants. The term originates and is mainly used in Italy, where World War II had an extremely strong influence on the use of wild plants for food. Follow the conversation between journalist Rositsa Panayotova and the botanists Assoc. Prof. Dimitar Uzunov (NMNHS) and Assoc. Prof. Desislava Dimitrova (Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research) to learn more about the diversity of plant species and their use in Italy and Bulgaria.
— youtube.com/watch?v=HQHQ3WbDWlo
Biodiversity Day in Museo di Storia Naturale della Calabria e Orto Botanico Università della Calabria
We invite you to meet our colleagues from Museo di Storia Naturale della Calabria e Orto Botanico Università della Calabria who present their museum and botanic garden on the occasion of Biodiversity Day, 22 May 2020.
— facebook.com/nmnhs/videos/720111941947253/
Fossils, dinosaurs and how to find them in Bulgaria
How can we take a look into the Earth’s past? How can we unravel the mysteries of life that inhabited our planet millions of years ago? In this journey through time, Senior Assistant Dr Latinka Hristova from the National Museum of Natural History will show us how fossils retell stories. We will take a look at the world of dinosaurs and learn which of them inhabited the range of today’s Bulgaria.
— youtube.com/watch?v=o2gJTAiIOaA
Who are the agents of healthy phytocenoses
In this conversation journalist Rositsa Panayotova and the entomologists from NMNHS, Assoc. Prof. Nikolay Simov and Assoc. Prof. Mario Langourov will present to you what scientists know about the health of phytocenoses, who are the agents of healthy phytocenoses, what is written in their ‘agent files’, who and how recruited them. In search of answers, they will have to find out what their game of ‘love triangle’ is and what are the bizarre devices for attracting third parties in the relationship.
— youtube.com/watch?v=o2gJTAiIOaA
How poor our imaginations are: A story about discovering and exploring a dinosaur locality
Sometimes scientists have a very clear idea of what they will find. Other times, they are totally unprepared for what they will find, because it turns out to be more exciting and big than their wildest expectations. This is exactly the case with the palaeontological site near the town of Trun, which shook the ideas of Bulgarian scientists about life on our lands more than 80 million years ago. Join Dr Latinka Hristova and PhD student Vladimir Nikolov, who will return to the recent past to tell firsthand the story of the discovery of the field and the work of the scientific team there over the past three years. Naturally, they will not miss the expected and mostly unexpected discoveries they made during their expeditions, as well as share their plans for future exploration of the site. Although, sometimes even the wildest imagination cannot prepare us for the surprising reality that awaits us locked in the ancient rocks.
— youtube.com/watch?v=YcIYeW41vq0
‘What about bats’
What happens when a scientist meets an artist? And what happens if the research of them complements each other? How does the pandemic affect their research? The artists from the team of ‘36 monkeys’ tell about the bold hypotheses that the PhD student of BAS Antonia Hubancheva is currently proving with her experiments. From the video we learn more about the essence of scientific research, how different sciences help each other and what scientists think about the connection between the pandemic and bats. You will have the opportunity to ask your questions to the doctoral student of BAS and the Max Planck Institute of Ornithology, Antonia Hubancheva, who will join live after the video.
— youtube.com/watch?v=zJW0fDt1BZQ
— youtube.com/watch?v=hpSvovetsns