The National Museum of Natural History, founded in 1889, is the largest and oldest of its kind in the Balkans, and is part of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The museum exhibits more than 400 mammal specimens, more than 1200 species of birds, hundreds of insects and other invertebrates, and a quarter of the world's mineral samples. From its inception until 1947, renowned experts from around the world have been advising the museum.