The Pleven Panorama building seen from outside

Modern & monumentNorthern Bulgaria & the Danube

Pleven Panorama, a Giant Painted Battle in Skobelev Park

The Pleven Panorama, officially “Pleven Epopee 1877”, is a museum in Skobelev Park in Pleven, in northern Bulgaria, built to mark the centenary of the 1877 siege of Plevna. A painted canvas 115 metres long wraps around the visitor, and the roof offers views of redoubts and hills where the fighting took place. It is a memorable stop for anyone interested in how Bulgaria was liberated.

The museum stands on four giant bayonets, and the rings they carry stand for the three assaults on Plevna. Inside, you are placed in the middle of the third attack of 11 September 1877.

WhereSkobelev Park, Pleven, northern Bulgaria, next to the Kovanlak redoubt

TypePanorama museum commemorating the Russo-Turkish War, opened in 1977

Best forHistory lovers, families with older children and anyone curious about 19th-century Bulgaria

Getting thereLocated in Skobelev Park on the edge of the city of Pleven; reachable by road from the centre

The history of the Pleven Panorama and the siege it shows

To understand the panorama you first need the siege it depicts. In 1877 the Russo-Turkish War was under way, and the town of Plevna, today Pleven, was held by Ottoman forces under Field Marshal Osman Pasha, who fortified it after his earlier victory at Nikopol on 16 July. Over five months, from 20 July to 10 December 1877, the Russian and Romanian armies launched four major battles against the town. Osman Pasha beat off the first two attacks, and the siege became one of the decisive episodes of a war that ended five centuries of Ottoman rule in Bulgaria.

The third battle, fought from 31 August to 11 September 1877, is the one the painting focuses on. Russian troops under General Mikhail Skobelev captured two Ottoman redoubts, while a Romanian division took a third, the Grivitsa redoubt. The Ottomans recaptured the two redoubts taken by the Russians but could not dislodge the Romanians from Grivitsa. For the Russian side it was the bloodiest day of the siege, with roughly 20,000 losses, yet it also turned the tide. By 24 October Plevna was surrounded; on 9 December Osman Pasha tried a breakout, lost about 5,000 men and was wounded, and on 10 December he surrendered the city to the Romanian colonel Mihail Cerchez.

Remembering these events became a local tradition. Pleven today has nearly 200 monuments to the battles and to the roughly 35,000 lives lost, and the panorama was conceived as the crowning memorial for the hundredth anniversary. The painter Nikolay Ovechkin of Moscow devised the project; the building was designed by the Bulgarian architects Ivo Petrov and Plamena Tsacheva with a team of 14 specialists; and thirteen Russian and Bulgarian artists, eleven of them Russian, painted and built the panoramic scene. The site was chosen beside the Kovanlak redoubt in Skobelev Park, where some of the heaviest fighting of the third assault took place.

The architecture is symbolic as well as practical. The truncated cone, about 47 metres high, appears to be lifted on four stylised bayonets that stand for the weapon that brought freedom. They carry four horizontal rings: three for the three assaults on Plevna and a fourth, a decorative frieze, for the siege itself. Inside there are four rooms. The introductory hall holds six paintings of Bulgarian history and the war, from the Ottoman yoke and the April Uprising of 1876 to the crossing of the Danube, the defence of the Samara flag and the battle of Shipka. The main hall holds the 115 × 15 metre canvas of the third assault. A diorama of 17 × 5 metres shows the failed breakout across the River Vit, and the final room has two paintings and a display of uniforms, weapons and artillery.

The panorama opened on 10 December 1977, exactly a century after Osman Pasha's surrender. In its first three years about 2.5 million people visited, and it is included among the 100 National Tourist Sites of Bulgaria. Two lifts take visitors to viewing platforms on the roof, from which the historic landscape can be read.

Curious facts about the Pleven Panorama

The building seems to float on four bayonets, and its three upper rings stand for the three assaults on Plevna while the fourth, decorative ring stands for the siege.
The main canvas measures 115 × 15 metres and puts the viewer in the middle of the third assault of 11 September 1877, with an attacking regiment, a doctor and a nurse, and General Skobelev leading the charge.
The panorama opened to the public on 10 December 1977, exactly 100 years after Osman Pasha surrendered Plevna.
In its first three years, 2.5 million people came through the doors.
Painters from Moscow's military studio led by Nikolay Ovechkin did most of the work; of the 13 artists, eleven were Russian and two Bulgarian.
From the rooftop platforms you can look out over the “Dead Valley”, the Kovanlak and Issa Aga redoubts, the ossuary in Skobelev Park and the Radishevo and Grivitsa heights.

Tours near Pleven Panorama

Experiences in the area that you can book online with Viator:

ATV/QUAD Off-Road Tour in Veliko Tarnovo and Arbanasi

★ 5 (61 reviews) · 1.5 h

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Admission Ticket to Illusions in Museum in Veliko Turnovo

★ 4.8 (41 reviews) · 1 h

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Interactive Presentation about Bulgarian Poets

★ 5 (19 reviews) · 40 min

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Veliko Tarnovo and Arbanasi day tour from Sofia with pickup

★ 4.9 (19 reviews) · 10 h

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Visiting the Pleven Panorama: what to expect

The tour passes through four rooms: an introductory hall with six large paintings, the panoramic hall, the diorama and a final hall with uniforms and weapons.
Lifts take visitors to two viewing platforms on the roof, with views of the Dead Valley, the Kovanlak and Issa Aga redoubts, the ossuary and the Radishevo and Grivitsa heights.
The museum lies in Skobelev Park, so the visit combines easily with a walk through the park and a look at the neighbouring Kovanlak redoubt.
Opening hours change with the season and the last group enters before closing, so check the current opening hours before you go.
Oescus, a Roman site on the Danube, lies roughly 35 km away and can be paired with a day around Pleven.

Opening hours, access and conditions can change. Check before you go.

Map: where Pleven Panorama is

Photos of Pleven Panorama

Questions

What is the Pleven Panorama?

The Pleven Panorama is a museum in Pleven devoted to the 1877 Siege of Plevna. It is built around a huge painted panorama of the third assault on the city and opened on 10 December 1977.

Where is the Pleven Panorama located?

It stands in Skobelev Park in Pleven, in northern Bulgaria, right next to the Kovanlak redoubt where heavy fighting took place in 1877.

What does the Pleven Panorama show?

The main canvas, 115 × 15 metres, shows the third assault of Russian and Romanian troops on Plevna on 11 September 1877. A diorama shows the failed Ottoman breakout of 10 December 1877.

Who created the Pleven Panorama?

Nikolay Ovechkin of Moscow led the painting, with a team of 13 Russian and Bulgarian artists. The building was designed by the architects Ivo Petrov and Plamena Tsacheva.

Can you see the battlefield from the building?

Yes. Lifts go up to two viewing platforms on the roof, from which visitors can see sites such as the Dead Valley, the Kovanlak and Issa Aga redoubts and the Grivitsa heights.

When is the Pleven Panorama open?

Opening hours depend on the season and may change, so it is best to check the current opening hours before you go.