A press conference was held at the National Archaeological Museum on occasion of the temporary exhibition “The forgotten deities” (07.08.2026 – 17.01.2027 г.)

On 5th August, 2026, a press conference was held at the National Archaeological Museum on the occasion of the forthcoming temporary exhibition “The forgotten deities”, with the participation of the Director of the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hristo Popov and the exhibition’s curators: Αssist. Prof. Dr. Kaloyan Pramatarov and Chavdar Chomakov.

“The forgotten deities” is a large-scale project gathering 213 rare artifacts and following the development of religious ideas in the Bulgarian lands from the beginning of the Neolithic till the beginning of Late Antiquity. The exhibition offers an opportunity to journey through more than 6000 years of spiritual history and to reflect on how different societies have searched for explanations of the universe, nature, and human existence.

The exhibition presents one of the most valuable pieces of evidence for the spiritual world of the ancient societies that had inhabited the Bulgarian lands. Visitors will have the opportunity to encounter images of long-forgotten deities, cults, and mythological personages – from the Great Goddess Mother of the prehistoric agricultural societies to Zeus, Dionysus, Mithra, the Thracian Horseman, and many other deities from the Graeco-Roman and Thracian religious tradition.

Among the highlights are dozens of artifacts with high scientific and art value, restored specifically for the needs of the exhibition and displayed in front of the broad public for the first time. Chronologically, the exhibition embraces more than six millennia –from the Early Neolithic (around 6200 BC) till the end of the 4th c. AD. Through statuettes of deities, votive offerings, cult objects, coins, statues, reliefs, ornaments, and objects from everyday life, the exhibition tells the story of religious ideas and beliefs through different epochs.

„Through millennia, humans have constantly searched for an explanation of the surrounding world – of its origin, of the forces that governed it and their influence on them. The artifacts presented at the exhibition are an alive archaeological illustration of this long journey of searching and thinking. They not only tell a story of ancient beliefs. But also remind us about the link between the restricted human consciousness and the immensity of the world“ – said Assist. Prof. Dr. Kaloyan Pramatarov, one of the curators of the exhibition, part of the Exhibition Department of the National Archaeological Museum.

Besides the valuable artifacts, “The forgotten deities” impresses with its dimensional and multimedia environment. Images, sound, and visual effects create a complete narrative of spirituality through different epochs and distract visitors from everyday life. One of the main elements is a multimedia installation with clouds, conceived as a symbolic window to heaven and ancient beliefs.

„Already with the conceiving of the initial idea for the exhibition, we set a goal to create a suitable environment for these objects. We wanted the visitor not only to look at different artifacts, but to discover the links between them and to question himself, shared Chavdar Chomakov – a restorer, designer, and curator of the exhibition, part of the Laboratory for Analysis, Conservation and Restoration of NAIM-BAS.

„The forgotten deities” treats the themes of prehistoric cults towards fertility and the nature’s cycles, the religious practices through the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age, the interaction between the Thracian and the Hellenic religious traditions, as well as the diversity of cults in the Bulgarian lands during the Roman period.

Part of the finds had entered the museum collections already in the last quarter of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, and others are the result of contemporary archaeological research, donations, and saved cultural valuables.

„The National Archaeological Museum is a real national treasury hall, where more than 140 years of exhibits have been collected and stored, discovered in the Bulgarian lands. In our depositories there are more than 1 million artifacts, and they cannot be exhibited at once. In this capacity, the Museum has tremendous responsibilities and limits. The space that we have is not endless. A large part of the stored artifacts stays invisible to the broad public. This exhibition gives us an opportunity to show part of the artifacts related to the subject“, commented Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hristo Popov, Director of the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

The exhibition is organized with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and INFRAMAT – Modern Scientific Equipment in Support of Science, Technology, and Culture, part of the Bulgarian National Roadmap for Scientific Infrastructure, supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Bulgaria.