The Historical Museum takes an important place in the cultural life of Gabrovo. The beginning dates back to the first museum collection initiated in 1883 in Aprilov High School by the school principal Raicho Karolev. Nowadays the museum is housed in a beautiful baroque building built in 1904. Its rich collection includes 90 000 exhibits from the Paleolithic era, the late-ancient civilization on these lands (IV-VI centuries BC.), the First and Second Bulgarian Kingdom, the Ottoman Empire, the Revival period and the industrial boom, up to present days..