The Ethnographic Museum in Elhovo is in a scenic border region, in the valley of the lower river Toundja whose population managed to preserve intact the beauty and purity of its mores and customs despite the vicissitudes and ups and downs of history.
The history of the museum started with a collection which opened in 1958 and was exclusively ethnographic. In 1961 it was declared a state museum and in 1966 — a special ethnographic museum whose scope was Yambol district.
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The Ethnographic Museum in Elhovo is situated in two twostoreyed half solid buildings in the centre of the town, built in 1933 and combined in the 1960s into one building functionally and architecturally shaped for the purpose.
The museum keeps about 22,000 exhibits of which over 13,800 comprise the basic museum fund divided into the following departments: Agriculture and Stock-Breeding, House and Interior, Transport, Hunting and Fishing, Clothes and Jewels, Textile and Embroidery, Traditional Handicrafts, Folk Art. The stock also includes A documental archive and a photographical archive, which store over 8000 authentic documents and photographs connected with the development of the region from the National Liberation in 1878 to the present.
The exhibits of the departments Clothes and Jewels and Textile and Embroidery have a priority in the basic museum fund as regards the make, uniqueness and originality, scholarly and artistic value. The credit for this goes to the indigenous population and to the Bulgarian refugees from Adrianople and Aegean Thrace. Quite a number of those exhibits have been shown at Bulgarian and international exhibitions.
About 16000 visitors, including about 300 foreigners, pass through the exhibition halls every year.
The Ethnographic Museum - Elhovo officially became one of the 100 National Tourist Object under number 100.
In 1983 the museum was awarded the first class order Ciril and Methodius on the occasion of its 25ht anniversary.