The Museum of contemporary history is situated next to the prison – museum. In the one of the halls is presented the temporary exposition “Veliko Tarnovo and the Bulgarian state system”.
The main idea is to show Veliko Tarnovo as a symbol of the succession of the Bulgarian state system in the first decades after the Liberation. By photos and exponents are traced out the most significant events took part in the town during this period: the First Great National Assembly and the election of Alexander Batenberg as Bulgarian prince in 1879;the Second Great National Assembly held in Svistov in 1881; the Union in 1885; the Third Great National Assembly and the election of Ferdinand Sakskoburggotski for Bulgarian prince; the Forth Great National Assembly in 1893; The proclamation of the independence on 22 September 1908; The Fifth Great National Assembly in 1911.The accent is on the role of Stefan Stambolov as an eminent statesman of Modern Bulgaria. We can see coin emissions from the Third Bulgarian Kingdom.
Another one of the halls is dedicated to the “Wars for national union – 1885, 1912-1913, 1915-1918”. There are exhibited maps of the military operations, belongings of participants in the wars, guns, military crosses, uniforms, black and white drawings of the famous artist Boris Denev and original illustrated maps.
