National Polytechnic Museum - Sofia

Overview

The National Polytechnic Museum (NPTM) is a Bulgarian research and cultural-educational institution, the administrative management of which is assigned to the Ministry of Culture. The address of the museum is in Sofia at 66 Opalchenska Street. It is the seat of the Bulgarian National Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM). The museum is one of the 100 national tourist sites. NPTM is one of the founders and official partner of the Bulgarian Automobile Club "Retro". Founder and first long-term director is eng. Alexander Valchev. The National Polytechnic Museum was founded on May 13, 1957 by order № 486 of the Council of Ministers. Initially, the museum was managed by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, later by the Ministry of Education and Culture, and since 1968 it has been included in the national museums. The idea of ​​creating a museum of technology in Bulgaria dates back to 1885, when the first technical society was founded in Ruse, in whose founding statute the priority task was the construction of a technical museum and technical library, which "to promote the development of technology and technical livelihood '. The idea is continued by the Bulgarian Engineering and Architecture Society. The scientific and technical unions help for the initial formation of the collections, and the museum uses working premises and halls in the House of Technology. At the end of 1992, the museum acquired its own building - the former museum of Georgi Dimitrov. In its funds the National Polytechnic Museum stores over 22,000 exhibits, distributed by collections: timekeeping, transport, photographic and cinematographic equipment, optics, sound recording and reproduction, radio and television, computer equipment, musical mechanisms, geodetic instruments, measuring equipment, household appliances, sewing machines, typewriters, physical appliances, communication equipment. The museum keeps exhibits related to the life and work of prominent figures of Bulgarian science and technology, single items and more. The scientific archive contains over 2000 archival units. The museum has a video archive, film archive, photo archive, reference apparatus on the history of science and technology, personal archives, a specialized library-reading room with over 12,000 books and periodicals, a collection of works of art with technical themes, cartographic works. About 1000 objects are shown in the permanent exhibition on an area of ​​1000 m2. Collections and single exhibits of NPTM are also exhibited in other museums and museum collections. Such are the permanent exhibitions - "The beginning - 120 years of Bulgarian communications" in the lobby of the Central Post Office - Sofia, "Radio in Bulgaria" and "Let's record and hear the sounds" at the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication and "History of Astronomy Education" at the Astronomical Observatory of Sofia University. A Ford A car and other exhibits of the museum are present in the Henry Ford Museum of Moto-Pfohe. The main activity of NPTM is the search, preservation, scientific processing and promotion of cultural values ​​related to the Bulgarian and world history of science and technology. The museum is an organizer of conferences and symposia dedicated to the history of various branches of science and technology. He has published 18 volumes of the only edition in the history of science and technology - Yearbook of the National Polytechnic Museum, a number of thematic collections and brochures. Prepares and distributes a children's newspaper "Technitarche". The Polytechnic Museum has developed over 140 thematic exhibitions in various fields of knowledge - "Memories of Bulgarian industry", "Meet the Museum of Science and Technology", "The Magic of the Obscura Camera", "The History of Bulgarian Technology", "The Electrification of Bulgaria" , "Mining in Bulgaria", "Bulgarian trace in science", etc. The exhibitions are shown in the country and abroad. One of the main activities of the National Polytechnic Museum and its branches are educational programs, especially in the field of physics, chemistry, textiles and music. The museum works in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Science - in particular with secondary school teachers, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia University "St. Cl. Ohridski ”, with non-governmental organizations - the Union of Physicists in Bulgaria, the Union of Chemists, the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria, the Federation of Scientific and Technical Unions, the Business Club of the German Economy in Bulgaria, the Austrian Institute for Southern and Southeastern Europe, the British Council, the French cultural center, as well as with a number of foundations, companies and associations.