Bulgarian National Ethnographic Museum – Meeting the Challenges of Digitisation

The conservation, spread, comprehension and recreation of traditional culture heritages is one of the main purpose of the National Ethnographic Museum in Bulgaria. As other cultural and scientific heritage institutions, it begins to use new information technologies and strategies for providing access to its cultural heritage treasures. This paper aims to present digital libraries with multimedia content as a modern technological solution for innovative presentation of Bulgarian ethnographical heritage. It includes some basic concepts of digital libraries with multimedia content and a description of three types of architecture. The paper also describes the ideas, conceptual decisions and strategies in the project Experimental Digital Library “Bulgarian Ethnographic Treasury”

Toplesh village

Panorama landscape with two houses and an Orthodox church.The photograph was a gift to the National Ethnographic Museum from the Bulgarian Ethnographic Society (Balgarsko narodouchno druzhestvo)

Gabrovo town

Panorama photograph of buildings on a riverside.The photograph was a gift to the National Ethnographic Museum from the Bulgarian Ethnographic Society (Balgarsko narodouchno druzhestvo)

Joinery for wooden bowl

Outdoor photograph in a woodland of two wooden equipments near a small river.The photograph was a gift to the National Ethnographic Museum from the Bulgarian Ethnographic Society (Balgarsko narodouchno druzhestvo)

The "Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven" church in Gabrovo

Panorama photograph of a Christian Orthodox church. Some people are standing in front of the door on the side.Gift to the National Ethnographic Museum from the Bulgarian Ethnographic Society (Balgarsko narodouchno druzhestvo)

The "Konak" bridge in Gabrovo

Panorama photograph of one- and two-storied buildings on both sides of a river with a bridge over it.The photograph was a gift to the National Ethnographic Museum from the Bulgarian Ethnographic Society (Balgarsko narodouchno druzhestvo)

The "Shipka" bridge (now "Shivarov bridge")

Panorama photograph of a stone bridge.The bridge was famous for a battle against the Ottoman rule, led 1856 by Captain Nikola Filipovski (1880 - 1856). The photograph was a gift to the National Ethnographic Museum from the Bulgarian Ethnographic Society (Balgarsko narodouchno druzhestvo)

A Gabrovo street with the building of the Girls' School

Photograph of a street with two-storied, bay-windowed buildings on both sides. In the lower left and right angle, two boys are looking to the camera; some people are in the background.The photograph was a gift to the National Ethnographic Museum from the Bulgarian Ethnographic Society (Balgarsko narodouchno druzhestvo)

Priest Neofit's school

Photograph of a building behind a stone fence.Neofit Georgiev Sokolski, known as Hadzhi Pope Neofit, was an Orthodox priest, monk and teacher. In 1856 he built a school building, later known as "Priest Neofit' School" (Pop Neofitovoto shkolo). The photograph was a gift to the National Ethnographic Museum from the Bulgarian Ethnographic Society (Balgarsko narodouchno druzhestvo)

Rural wedding photograph

Full length outdoor shot in the farmyard of a rural house showing a woman in an overcoat and with a sokay (a specific wedding head cloth), and a man standing nex to her in an overcoat with a fur cap and a towel around his neck.Gift to the National Ethnographic Museum from the Bulgarian Ethnographic Society (Balgarsko narodouchno druzhestvo)