Description of the attraction
The Museum of the Liberation Movement "Ilya the Voevoda" is part of the Regional History Museum in the city of Kyustendil. The building in which the museum is located was built in the 70s of the 19th century; this house was given the status of a monument of culture and architecture. After the Liberation of Bulgaria, from 1878 to 1898, Ilya the voivode lived here - one of the most prominent figures of the Bulgarian national liberation movement, the commander of a detachment of volunteers who participated in the Russian-Turkish liberation war of 1877-1878.
1979-1980 the house was restored and a year later the official opening of the museum took place, dedicated to the life and work of Ilya the governor. In the same years, two other buildings were restored, in which the revolutionaries Konstantin Popgeorgiev, Berovski and Tonche Kandinostki lived. All three architectural monuments of the Renaissance period form a single memorial complex.
In the house-museum of Ilya the governor, there is a permanent exhibition called "The national liberation struggle of the inhabitants of the Kyustendil region." The exposition traces the history of the liberation movement of the local population from the 15th century to the Liberation and its contribution to the common cause of gaining independence for Bulgaria and the unification of the nation in the late 19th - early 20th centuries.
The collection is located in six rooms with a total area of 150 square meters and has about 800 exhibits: photographs, documents, weapons and much more. The main emphasis is placed on the life and work of Ilya the governor, the Razlov uprising in May 1876, the participation of the inhabitants of the region in the Bulgarian militia and the liberation of the city of Kyustendil from Ottoman rule in January 1878. Room 6, which opened in October 2003, describes the place and role of Kyustendil in the struggle for the liberation of Macedonia in the early fifties of the 19th century.
In the courtyard of the museum there is a monument to Ivan the governor, erected shortly before its opening, by the sculptor S. Stoimirov, architect Y. Fyrkov and engineer G. Vladimirov.
