The region where Dobrich is situated was settled since ancient times.

During the 11^th century, Pecheneg invasions devastated the interior of Dobruja, leaving many settlements in the region uninhabited at the time of the Second Bulgarian Empire.

The contemporary town arises in the 16th century as a crossroad settlement. Majour roads from the Danube River to the Black sea and Eastern Europe going to the inner sides of the Balkan Peninsula are crossing the region. The traveling Turkish tradesman Hadgioglu Pazardjik is considered to be the founder of the city. The town bears this name until 1882, when the town is renamed to Dobrich- after the famous Dobrudja boyar- Dobrotitsa.

The Church of St George in the centre of Dobrich, to the left is the statue of Vasil Levski by Kolyo Bogdanov

According to the Turkish traveller Evliya Chelebi, who visited the town circa 1650, at that time it had 1,000 houses, 100 shops, 3 inns, 3 baths (hamams), 12 mosques, and 12 schools.

In XVII - XIX AD, the town developed as a centre of arts and crafts, trade, and agriculture. It was famous for its weavers, coppersmiths, curriers and harness-makers, as well as its products - wheat, flax seed, sheep fur, wool, and cheese. Today, right next to the town centre, is the Old Dobrich ethnographic complex, which, in its small workshops, still keeps alive the sparkle that kindled the Bulgarian National Revival.

By the first decades of the XIX century the population of the town had grown to twelve thousand, mainly Turks. The first Bulgarian settlers came from other parts of East Bulgaria after the Russian - Turkish wars (1810, 1828, and 1845). A large group of Bulgarian settles from the region of Kotel moved in after the Crimean War.

The famous trade fair in Dobrich opened in 1851, and a number of merchants from Varna, Ruse, Shoumen and a few other towns marketed their goods here.

A wave of urbanization started in 1869 - the park was built, the town had a telegraphic link with Varna, the post office started operations, and the hospital, built a few years before, was finally opened.

The Ottoman rule over Hadzhioglu Pazardzhik came to an end on 27^th January, 1878. By a decree of the Prince, dated 19.02.1882, the town’s name was changed to Dobrich, after Dobrititsa - the medieval ruler of these lands.

Khan Asparuh (reign 668–695) monument, credited for establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire i n 681

The three consecutive wars which Bulgaria waged in the early 1900s had a dramatic impact on the town of Dobrich. The first Romanian occupation lasted until 1916. After the peace treaty of Neuilly, South Dobrudzha (including Dobrich) was annexed by Romania. The struggle against the Romanian annexation continued until 1940, and ended with the Krayova treaty, which led to the reunification of Bulgaria and South Dobrudzha. The Bulgarian army entered the town on 25^th September 1940. This date is now celebrated as the day of Dobrich.

During the period of Communist rule, Dobrich was renamed Tolbukhin after Russian military commander Fyodor Tolbukhin. On 19 September 1990, a presidential decree restored the town’s old name of Dobrich.

• HISTORICAL MUSEUM

Yordan Yovkov Museum
The historical museum offers tourists a walk around the historical heritage of Dobrudzha - the crossroads of civilizations, where cultures from a number of regions in Southeast Europe meet. The museum boasts some 163,000 exhibits.
The historical museum of Dobrich was founded in 1953 as an institution for science, culture and education. It has collected, studied, stored and exhibited artifacts and nature samples from all over South Dobrudzha. It publishes a number of scientific and popular science books (among which the year-book Dobrudzha), and organizes international, national, and regional science forums. In 1968, the organization started Yordan Yovkov fund, which, twelve years later, was transformed into the today's specialized museum of art, drama, and ballet Home of Yordan Yovkov.

Exhibitions of the historical museum:

• Archaeology of Dobrudzha
  Old Dobrich Complex
  No. 18, Konstantin Stoilov Street
• Urban and Rural Life at the End of XIX and the Beginning of XX
  Ethnographic House
  No. 5, Alen Mak Street
• Old Dobrich Outdoor Museum of Architecture and Ethnography
  No. 18, Konstantin Stoilov Street
• Icons from Dobrudzha
  Art Gallery
  No. 14, Bulgaria Street
• The ‘Dobrudzha Question'
  Modern and Contemporary Weapons
  Museum of Modern and Contemporary History
  3rd March Street
• The House of Yordan Yovkov Museum
  No. 18, Major Vekilski Street
• Yordan Yovkov Museum
  No. 4, General Gurko Street
• The House of Adriana Budevska
  No. 56, Vasil Levski Street
• War Cemetery Memorial
  No. 53, 25th September blvd.
  

The Hall of the Icons (in the Art Gallery)

 It displays icons, pieces of our national heritage, which prove the high artistic standards and the talent of the Bulgarian icon-painters.Saint George ChurchThe church was opened in 1843, burnt down in the Crimean War (1853 - 1856), and then rebuilt in 1868. It boasts a richly ornamented iconostas. Many of the icons were painted by Kozma Blazhetov of Debar.

 

The House of Yordan Yovkov and Yordan Yovkov Museum

 

They commemorate the classic of Bulgarian literature, the great writer and humanist, the master of the short story genre - Yordan Yovkov. Some of his works have been translated in 40 languages and included in anthologies of world literature.



The museum houses a remarkable piece of art - the ceramic collection The World of Yovkov's Personages by artist Stoimen Stoilov.



On the 30th anniversary of the Union of Bulgarian Architects, the building of the museum was awarded the highest architectural design prize Archscar (architects A. Stoyanov, P. Ganchev, A. Koev, G. Mihaylov).

 

 

Old Dobrich Outdoor Museum of Architecture and Ethnography

 

The museum shows the architecture, customs, and crafts of Dobrich at the end of XIX and the beginning of XX AD. Its purpose is to preserve and develop the cultural and occupational traditions in the region.
The visitors will find out about the production processes of traditional arts and crafts - tailoring, knitting, wood turnery, goldsmith's trade, etc. There is a bakery, a millet-ale (or boza) shop, and an old style café. Visitors can try their hand at pottery, visit the café and taste the famous byalo sladko, boza, and Bulgarian wine.

130 years city park Dobrich 1997

 

 

The Nature of Dobrudzha Museum

 

 

The museum, located in St. George Town Park, has been in operation since 28th December 2005. The exhibition was founded with the financial support of the National Centre for Museums, Galleries and Art of the then Ministry of Culture and Tourism.


Visitors can see the diorama cycles Water Caves (the last habitats of the monk seals), Wetlands (the areas next to water basins), Bustard, or Otis tarda (the most common bird species until the 1970s, which is now extinct and can only be spotted along the migration routes), the steppe (the most common biotope in Dobrudzha in the past), the longose (a type of forest with peculiar water cycle, now existing only near the mouth of the Batovska River), Agrocenosis (follows the changes in the biodiversity in Dobrudzha as a result of human activities; the adaptation of wildlife in the modern day agricultural regions), Forest (the deciduous forests and their impact on the climate and biodiversity), the Suha Reka Canyon (natural habitat for a variety of plant and animal species in an agricultural area). The exhibition not only educates visitors - it also entertains them and kindles their imagination.   Art GalleryThe art gallery of Dobrich is over 35 years old and has the status of a city art museum. It features over 3,000 works of art - paintings, sculptures, black and white drawings, figurines and works of plastic arts by artists of various generations.
The works are exhibited in one of the stateliest buildings - a monument of architecture built in the 1930s. The art gallery boasts masters such as Mrkviska, Vladimir Dimitrov - Maystora (Vladimir ‘the Master' Dimitrov), Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, Bencho Obreshkov, Alexander Petrov, Vasil Zahariev, Pencho Balkanski, Dechko Uzunov, etc. A number of traveling exhibitions from France, Spain, Poland, Slovakia, Cuba, etc. have been displayed here. The art gallery is a venue for concerts, video presentations, recitations and meetings. Visitors to Dobrich take particular interest in the resident exhibitions ‘Old masters' and ‘Modern artists'. The art gallery organizes the international plein air ‘Paper', and has published the catalogues of the exhibitions held from 1996 to 2003. A catalogue of the gallery is also available.