HISTORICAL RELEVANCE The museum site was originally intended as an Islamic religious school (a medrese), but it never served in that capacity. From 1934-1947, it was used for military purposes. After that, it became a secondary school and then a campus affiliated with Plovdiv University. It was gradually converted to a museum between 1980 and 1983. In 2005, by order of the Ministry of Culture, the museum building was declared a nationally important architectural landmark.
INTER-RELIGIOUS RELEVANCE The exposition of the museum consists of three sections - Archeology, Mineralogy and Ethnology. Each floor is separated by one floor. The exhibition halls are on three floors that have a combined surface of 1,300 square meters. On the first floor there are nine halls that trace the development of life in the region from the 6th century BCE to the Middle Ages. Of particular interest is a community burial site from the Neolithic Age, photos of other rock burial sties, sanctuaries, sacrificial slabs, Roman pottery, jewels and artifacts from Christian tombs, and so forth. On the second floor there are four halls showing the natural habitats of the Eastern Rhodopes. Here are petrified fossils of oysters, snails, sea urchins, sea stars, coral, trees, and even fish. There are also medicinal plant collections, ore-bearing minerals, and photos of unique rock formations resembling a hay stack, mushrooms, an elephant, and stone forests. There are photos of fractured alpine landscapes caused by shifting tectonic plates, among illustrations of other natural wonders. On the third floor there is an ethnographic exhibition that takes up in ten rooms, with displays from the 19th and 20th centuries. Here visitors can observe the region’s characteristic activities, such as agriculture, herding, coal mining, metalworking, shoemaking, sewing, weaving, and making cloth on a loom.
RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE There are also installations displaying the traditional folk celebrations and customs of inhabitants living in the Kardzhali region. Like most of the museum buildings in Bulgaria, this one as well was created for another purpose. The original idea was to be a medrese (a Muslim spiritual school). Because of the different vicissitudes of fate, this never happened, but the initial design of the building's functions impose at first sight atypical, architectural solutions for our lands. In the façade there are Moroccan arches and details reminiscent of the architecture of the Arab world. The exposition of the museum consists of three sections - Archeology, Mineralogy and Ethnology. Each floor is separated by one floor. Because of its unique appearance, the building is declared a monument of culture of national importance.