Varna Archaeological Museum

This is one of the finest archaeological museums in southeastern Europe, and the display of the Gold of Varna — the extraordinary Chalcolithic gold hoard found in a nearby necropolis in 1972 — alone makes the trip worthwhile. The gold objects date to around 4,500 BC, which places them firmly in a period when Mesopotamia had not yet invented writing and Egypt had not yet begun to think about pyramids. That anyone was producing such sophisticated goldwork at this date, in this part of the world, comes as a genuine surprise.

The museum covers Bulgaria's archaeological history from prehistory to the medieval period, with strong collections of Greek and Roman material reflecting Varna's long history as a port city. There are Thracian artefacts, coins, ceramics, and stone sculpture. The Gold of Varna is displayed in its own dedicated room — dramatic, well-lit, and worth spending time with. Allow two hours minimum. The museum is housed in a handsome 19th-century building in the city centre.

things to do museum
A story
In October 1972, a mechanical excavator operator named Raicho Marinov was digging a drainage trench near Varna's industrial zone when his bucket struck something. What he had found was a Chalcolithic necropolis — a cemetery of around 300 graves dating to 4500–4600 BC. Among the burials was a single male grave containing more than 990 gold objects, including a solid gold penis sheath, a gold sceptre, and gold plates that had been sewn onto the burial shroud. It was the oldest worked gold in the world, predating Egyptian goldwork by more than a thousand years. Marinov, cautious and honest, reported the find immediately rather than pocketing anything.