an inventory and documentary of art environments in Europe created by non-professionals
August 29, 2025
Todor Atanasov and partners, Музей на света / Museum of the creation of the world
images (June 2025) in this post published here in agreement with photographer Martin Besnard
The municipality of Novo Selo, with over 2,900 inhabitants (2011), is located along the southern bank of the Danube River in northwestern Bulgaria. The Danube also forms the border with Romania, located north of the river.
The municipality, which includes several wine-growing estates, encompasses a number of villages, including Novo Selo, which forms the administrative center.
A Museum about the Creation of the World
Novo Selo is a community that has existed since ancient times and when Todor Atanasov was its mayor, he was very interested in its history.
This led him to the idea at some point of creating an open-air museum depicting this history, also to attract tourists.
He shared the idea with several people in his circle, and it turned out they were also enthusiastic and wanted to contribute to such a project. And so a kind of an open air museum would indeed be realized on a four-hectare site near Novo Selo.
Among the people who volunteered to participate in the project, were a local librarian, a school principal and a former municipal official. They each contributed to the development of the project in their own way, based on their own knowledge and research.
The construction of what can be considered an art environment, based on substantive contributions from various interested parties, began in 2010.
As the construction of the art environment progressed, a problem arose because creating the buildings and decorative elements, realized in a protected nature reserve. was not based on an officially granted permit.
The national inspectorate in question assessed the existing violations and issued a fine, which was paid by the parties involved.
It was then up to the Novo Selo municipal council to decide whether or not the site could further develop, .
The council apparently made a favorable decision with regard to the site, as in 2015 the newspaper 360Mag (see documentation) referred to the art environment in Novo Selo as "one of the most successful projects in Bulgarian tourism."
When this article about the art environment was published in 2025, accompanied by photographs also taken in 2025, the mayor had retired, and the area where the site had been built was adorned with a variety of creations.
The connection between the somewhat isolated creations is not clearly visible in the images, but the underlying idea that the development of humanity is depicted in the sculptures and structures can, with a little effort, be discerned.
The images in this post provide a first impression of the creations on display in the site.
The dinosaurs, pictured above and below, are quite dominant and take the viewer back to times before humans began to inhabit the Earth.
The scenes presented in the four small-format images, further above and below, show how, during the early development of humanity on earth, people were housed in small, self-made shelters,
These are clearly scenes related to the development of humanity, with which most people are familiar.
However, in addition to these scenes clearly linked to the development of humanity, the site also includes a number of smaller creations, such as various animals, Indians, a ship, a tree of life and also a kind of a tomb, scenes in which it is more difficult to see in which stage of humanity's development they fit.
The massive gateway depicted in the very first photo can be associated with a medieval structure, a supposition more or less supported by the white rider riding a white horse,.
Todor Atanasov, portrayed in 2025 in the very first photo, now retired, devotes a great deal of energy to maintaining the art environment as it has developed thus far.
He does have ideas about expanding the site, for example with a replica of an Egyptian pyramid, but whether he should embark on such a project at his age, remains to be seen.
The video in the documentation shows how the art environment is situated in the area outside Novo Selo.
Documentation
* Article (2014) in regional newspaper btvnovinite
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