Address: 5300 Gabrovo, Brianska str. 68, p.o. 104
Phone: +359 66 807228; +359 66 809300; +359 66 804945; +359 66 807248
Fax: +359 66 806989;
E-mail: humorhouse@globcom.net; humorhouse@mail.bg
The ‘House of Humour and Satire’ Museum is a unique cultural institute for humorous and satiric art of international and worldwide significance. It was established on the foundations of an old leather factory on the ‘deceitful’ April 1st (the international day of joke- Fool’s day) in 1272 and it is a dignified successor to the local folklore humour, as well as of the amusing carnival traditions of Gabrovo – the Bulgarian capital of humour.
Under the motto ‘The world has survived because it has laughed’ the house develops versatile activities - it is a museum of laughter, a gallery of the world humorous art, an informational centre, a place for entertainment, as well as a tourist attraction both for the old and the young.
The objectives of the museum are to collect, examine, exhibit and promote the humour of the peoples in the field of fine arts, literature and folklore, photography, posters, cheerful holidays and fancy-dress party traditions all over the world.
The museum is a real castle with its 10 exhibition halls, recording studio, conference hall, souvenir stand, library, night restaurant, free car-park.
Museum guests are offered an amusing walk around the permanent exhibitions (‘The Roots of Gabrovo Humour’, ‘Paradise’, ‘The Sin’, ‘The Mask - the Face of the Feast’, ‘Long Live the Carnival!’, ‘World Carnival in Postage Stamps’), children’s amusement room “Gabrovo Planet”, temporary exhibitions of comic art, as well as numerous interesting attractions (joke-bank, distortion mirrors, figures of the famous Gabrovo cat with a cut-off tail, sheep bells/’chanove’/ meant for exorcism of evil spirits, disguise in carnival costumes, etc.)
The House has its own ‘Humour of the Peoples Fund’, which includes 147 220 museum valuables and 38 174 art works (by 9050 authors from 173 countries) in the field of painting, sculpture, caricature, graphics, photography and posters. It allows for continuous upgrading of the exhibitions, as well as for displaying a variety of individual, combined and theme exhibitions.
Among the significant events of the House are the following:
International Biennial of Humour and Satire in Arts (held every odd-numbered year)
Blagolazh National Meeting of Story and Joke-Tellers (held every odd-numbered year)
European Meetings on the Humorous Art ‘East-West’ (held every even-numbered year)
April 1st – the birthday of the House of Humour and of Gabrovo Planet
The Happy Thursdays, etc.
Situated in the centre of Gabrovo, in the immediate proximity of the bus station and the railway station, the museum meets its visitors with the funny greetings of favourite humorous characters whose sculpture compositions are united under the heading Park of Laughter: ‘Hitar Petar’(Tricky Peter), Charlie Chaplin, the inseparable Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Here one can find the enormous Sundial-Tack and the queer metal tower of Babel.