The period that began with the signing of the San Stefano Preliminary Treaty of Peace (19 February/3 March 1878), which ended the Russo-Turkish War, was marked by the fragmentation of the Bulgarian ethnic territory after the signing of the Treaty of Berlin (1 July 1878) and the reaction of the population against it. The first post-Liberation years were also a period of institution building in the Principality of Bulgaria and in Eastern Rumelia, of laying the foundations of the organization and the cadres of the armed forces of Bulgaria and of Eastern Rumelia, of the establishment of the political structures in the context of on-going struggles of Russia and the rest of the Great Powers to control over the region.
The exhibition narrative incorporates artifacts associated with the adoption of the first Bulgarian Constitution, personal belongings of Prince Alexander I Battenberg, and exhibits – testimonies from the first years of the political and military life of the new Bulgarian nation.
