National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

NMNHS is the only national institution directly engaged with the preservation of scientific collections of live and non-live nature from Bulgaria and the world. The study of biodiversity, environmental protection and the evolution of organisms are the museum’s major priorities. Consequently, the main task of NMNHS is the all-around study of the fauna, flora, fossils, minerals and rocks of Bulgaria and other countries. It develops the following scientific areas: taxonomy, faunistics, zoogeography and ecology of arachnids, myriapods, insects and all classes of vertebrates; taxonomy of fossil mammals, birds and brachiopods; floristics; mineralogy. Some of the areas have priority as a result of which NMNHS has become the national centre of biospeleology, archaeozoology and palaeontology of vertebrates and of bat studies. Insect studies are also highly developed.