Founded in 1916, the National Museum of Military History is the only museum in Bulgaria featuring four types of exhibitions – outdoor, chronological and collection-based, plus temporary shows. The museum traces the military history of the Bulgarian lands from Antiquity to the present and is the place where you can see the country’s richest collections of cold weapons and firearms, uniforms and decorations, works of art, flags, photographs, archives, military equipment, armaments and gear.

The museum's outdoor exhibition is particularly impressive. Spread across two courtyards, covering an area of 4 ha, it showcases more than 270 pieces of artillery, armoured and automotive equipment that has been in service with the Bulgarian Army from 1879 to the present. It is also the only place in the country where some of the most iconic weapons systems and aviation technology from the Cold War era are displayed: the SCUD, FROG, and SS-23 missile complexes; the SA-75M Dvina and Krug anti-aircraft systems; as well as fighter aircraft such as the MiG-21 BIS, MiG-21 UM, MiG-23 ML, Su-22 M4, and others.

The indoor exhibition presents the development of Bulgaria and its armed forces from Antiquity to the recent past – medieval weapons, the armament of the army after the restoration of the Bulgarian state in 1878, and accounts of significant historical events. 

Among the most valuable exhibits are the personal belongings of emblematic leaders of the independence movement, including Vasil Levski, Georgi Rakovski, Hristo Botev, Panayot Hitov, Georgi Benkovski, as well as those of heads of state and military commanders of the Third Bulgarian State.

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