The palaeontological branch of NMNHS-BAS https://www.nmnhs.com/palaeontological-museum-in… was established in February 1990 with a tripartite agreement between BAS, NMNHS-BAS and the municipality of Asenovgrad at the initiative of Prof. Nikolai Spassov, then research associate at the museum. The basis was the unique collection by students from the high school in Asenovgrad who under the guidance of biology teacher Dimitar Kovachev participated in palaeontological expeditions, supported by the local municipality. The collection was initially stored in the high school of the city, and when the museum was established it became part of the collections of NMNHS-BAS and was moved to the building provided by the municipality as a branch of the museum. Dimitar Kovachev was appointed the first curator of the museum and today the museum bears his name because of his special merits.

The exposition was inaugurated in 1999 and presents the hipparion mammal fauna of the late Miocene of Bulgaria, subsequently enriched with finds from the early Pliocene from the Bulgarian-French palaeontological excavations near the village of Dorkovo in the Western Rhodopes. Today the exposition attracts tourists from all over the world and serves to educate children, pupils and students.

In addition to the expositon, the museum preserves a unique scientific collection with about 35 thousand fossil bone remains with an approximate age of 8-7 million years from the famous palaeontological sites Kalimantsi and Hadzhidimovo and ranks among the richest palaeontological collections in the world from the so-called Pikermian hipparion fauna of the late Miocene, when the nature of the Balkans, with its rhinos, giraffes, monkeys, antelopes and ostriches, resembled today’s African savannah. From these collections, several new fossil species and genera of mammals and birds are described for science and many scientific publications have been prepared, owing to the joint work of palaeontologists from NMNHS-BAS and abroad. Its research has contributed a lot to the establishment of a Bulgarian palaeontological school in the field of vertebrate fauna.

A complete bibliography of the publications related to the study of the scientific collection of the palaeontological branch of NMNHS-BAS in Asenovgrad can be seen on the website of NMNHS-BAS:

https://www.nmnhs.com/palaeontological-museum-in-asenovgrad-bg.html