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Despite the famous verse "fire does not burn it", the city several times had fires due to its dense construction and houses of wood. The big fire in 1894 nearly erased it from the earth. Fire consumed homes, churches, inns, shops, schools and the community center. The archives of the municipality were burned, guilds and church boards. The people were reeling from grief and many left the city. Only a few houses survived, such as the Radil Kyorpeev’s house, which is now an ethnographic museum. But Kotel recovered from this disaster.

According to one legend, the inhabitants of the village Novachka was seeking a safer place to live away from the Turkish invaders. Their horses were lost after and after a long search they found them in a wonderful area, now known as Izvorova meadow. They decided to settle here permanently. Thus was born Kotel.

Natural History Museum in Kotel impressed by its wealth. It occupies an area of 1 000 square meters and has over 30 000 exhibits. It is situated in the park "Izvorite", ten minutes from the city.

Natural History Museum in the city gives an idea of how rich is the flora and fauna in this part of the mountain. Its founder was the natural science teacher Vasil Georgiev, who for a whole 60 years collected natural specimens, fossils, insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds. In 1951 his dream came true and a committee of the Academy of Sciences offered its collections to lay the foundation of the museum.

Everything in the museum is interesting, but the visitors held the longest before the medicinal plants in "Botany", before the amazing fossilized remains of organisms in the "Paleontology", the rhinoceros beetles, and the deers. Here you can see the biggest butterfly, which inhabits Bulgaria, called Big Night Peacock Eye.

Here can be seen also endangered snakes,snakelizard, several turtles, birds and mammals. Impressive are the three brown bears, located in "Mammals" section. Among other things, the museum is equipped with audio-visual technologies, which provide visitors the opportunity to better understand how the wild animals live in their natural environment.

There is hardly a Bulgarian who has not heard of the famous Kotel carpets. At the former Galatensko school, against which stoods the expressive monument of Petar Beron, author of "Fish Primer", are preserved wonderful models created by skillful hands and with great taste.

In the Hall "Paleontology" tourists can learn about the history of the region from ancient times until today. 100 million years ago Kotel was located at the bottom of the sea. This is confirmed by fossils from the Mesozoic era - corals, snails and other invertebrates.

It is best to visit the museum with the services of a guide who will conduct informative and intriguing lecture tracing the chronological development of the flora and fauna of the Balkan Mountains.