Mузей по Минералогия, Петрология и Полезни изкопаеми

Museum of Mineralogy, Petrology and Mineral Resources - Sofia Mineralogy Museum

Useful Information

Location:	ul. "Sveti Kliment Ohridski" 14, 1504 Sofia Center. (42.692804, 23.335415)
Open:	All year Mon-Fri 8:30-18. [2021]
Fee:	free. [2021]
Classification:	Mining Museums
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:	Ar=800 m².
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Museum of Mineralogy, Petrology and Minerals, ul. "Sveti Kliment Ohridski" 14, 1504 Sofia Center, Sofia, Tel: +359-2-930-8312. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1891	department of natural history opened at the first Higher School in Sofia, Dr. Bone Baev began lecturing on general geology.
1892	students of the First Men's High School donated a collection of 450 mineral, rock and fossil specimens.
1953	moved from the building of the Faculty of Biology to the new South Wing of Sofia University.

Description

The Mузей по Минералогия, Петрология и Полезни изкопаеми (Museum of Mineralogy, Petrology and Minerals) is a museum at the University of Sofia. The unique geological and mineralogical collection is maintained by the professors of the university. It is said to be the best collection of minerals and ores in the Balkan. The exposition hall of the museum is located in the South Wing of the University on an area of 800 m². The museum has 16,200 specimens, one half is exhibited. There are seven expositions Systematics, Petrography, Minerals, Crystallography, Regional Mineralogy, Genetic Mineralogy - Individuals and Aggregates, and the Memorial Collections.

The main goal of the museum is the education of the students from the Department of Mineralogy, Petrology and Minerals. The arrangement is in accordance with the curriculum. Additionally, samples of high museum and collection value can be seen, holotypes of minerals found in Bulgaria, type samples from Bulgarian and foreign already depleted deposits, and the personal collections of famous Bulgarian geologists. It's also possible to see the samples researched and described in books, textbooks and publications of teachers and students of the department. Exceptional is the beryl collection, which contains 106 specimens, of which 73 from Bulgarian localities.

There is no direct connection to caves or mines, no cave replica or mining exhibition. Nevertheless, many items are important for the Bulgarian mining and represent local resources. So we decided to list this museum nevertheless for its importance. For completenes’s sake we must also mention the Музей по Палеонтология и Исторична геология (Museum of Paleontology and Historical Geology), which is located in the north wing of the university. It is even less connected to caves and mines, except some fossils from the caves of the country. But again the collection is impressive, and if you are in Sofia it's definitely worthwhile to spend some hours at those museums.