National Archaeological Museum (Bulgaria)

National Institute of Archaeology with Museum in Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
(Национален археологически институт с музей при Българска академия на науките)

Interior of the first floor
Established	1892
Location	Sofia, Bulgaria
Type	Archaeological museum and research institute
Director	Lyudmil Vagalinski

Coordinates: 42°41′46.79″N 23°19′28.43″E / 42.6963306°N 23.3245639°E / 42.6963306; 23.3245639

The National Archaeological Museum (Bulgarian: Национален археологически музей, Natsionalen arheologicheski muzey) is an archaeological museum in the centre of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. It occupies the building of the largest and oldest former Ottoman mosque in the city, originally known as Koca Mahmut Paşa Camii. The construction started in 1451 under grand vizier Veli Mahmud Pasha but due to his death in 1474 the mosque has been completed in 1494. The museum was established as a separate entity in 1893 as the National Museum directed by Czech Václav Dobruský with its headquarters in the former mosque that previously housed the National Library between 1880 and 1893.

The museum was officially opened and inaugurated in 1905, as by then all archaeological exhibits previously kept all over the city were moved there, in the presence of Knyaz Ferdinand of Bulgaria and Minister of Enlightenment Ivan Shishmanov.