Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria

State responsibility for the arts in Bulgaria was carried by the education ministry until 1954, when culture was given a ministry of its own; the department was re-established in independent form in 1990. From Sofia it oversees the country's cultural work and the protection of its heritage, and it is the funding and appointing authority behind the national institutions — the opera houses, the state orchestras and theatres, the museums and archives. The Bulgarian National Film Centre and the National Film Archive sit under it.