The Puppet Museum in Varna is unique not only in Bulgaria but in the Balkans, too. There one can see favorite characters from the childhood that remind us of forgotten fairy tales.

“The museum was established on July 12, 1985,” says curator Krasimira Hristova.  “Great merit for creating the museum had playwright Veliko Burnev who cared for the archives of the theater. Curation was done by Tsvetana Vekova and the museum collection includes about 140 exhibits. They include works by famous Bulgarian stage designers such as architect Ivan Tsonev, Maya Petrova, Lubomir Tsakev, etc."

We can see puppets from actual theatre performances like “The Fisherman and the Goldfish," "Baron von Munchausen,” and others. There are a number of characters from Bulgarian plays such as “Nose in the Clouds" and "The Happiest Man." There are puppets from performances for adults such as “The Queen of Spades” by Pushkin, Dante’s Divine Comedy, etc. Some of the puppets have also been exhibited abroad. For the first time the collection was presented abroad in 1994 at the XII International Festival of Puppet Theatres in Spain, Krasimira Hristova told us. Two years later, some of the puppets were displayed in a special exhibition in Budapest, Hungary during an international puppetry festival. Worth of pointing out is also the participation in the International Puppet Festival in Subotica, Serbia in 2005.

The museum’s collection includes the popular Japanese dolls yavayki, the well-known glove puppets, as well as dolls, masks and others. Krassimira Hristova says that not only children, but actually a great number of adults visit the unique museum.

“During the winter the museum works mainly with children from schools and kindergartens who come here in an organized manner. For several years we have been working on the project "Success" of the Ministry of Education and the European Social Fund. Its purpose is to organize children's free time. Within the framework of the project a number of various clubs and theater workshops have been launched. Thus, children have the opportunity to get acquainted with our performances and repertoire, and also enter the art studio to see how the puppets are actually made. Furthermore, the museum organizes various workshops and art-related initiatives. During the summer months the museum is also visited by a number of foreign tourists, Ms. Hristova says.

English version: Alexander Markov