Naval Museum

The Naval Museum in Varna is a branch of the National Museum of Military History and is one of the hundred most important national tourist sites in Bulgaria. The history of the collection dates back to 1883, when officers of the Danube Flotilla in Ruse began collecting relics. The present museum building dates from 1890 and was designed by the French architect Henri Pierre. It previously served as a casino, the Italian consulate, and the Villa "Diana" before it was officially established as the Naval Museum under the Ministry of Defense in 1956. The exhibition comprises about a thousand items that trace the maritime history of the Black Sea coast chronologically, from antiquity to the modern era. Among other things, you can marvel at stone anchors, a reconstruction of an ancient cargo hold with amphorae, and a replica gun deck of an 18th-century sailing ship. Particularly noteworthy are the only surviving figureheads of their kind in Bulgaria, as well as parts of the furnishings of the yacht "Alexander I." Outside, historic cannons, the old Varna lighthouse, and the yacht "Kor Karoli" are on display; in 1932, the first Bulgarian solo circumnavigation of the globe was made aboard her. The highlight, however, is the museum ship "Drazki," a torpedo boat from the early 20th century, which is the only one of its class in the world to have been preserved.