Archaeology: Greece returns the remains of Tsar Samuil to Bulgaria

SOFIA, September 29 /ATSH-BTA/ — Greece is returning the remains of Tsar Samuil to Bulgaria, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said today at the opening of the government’s weekly meeting.

“We have reached a historic agreement on the return of the remains of Tsar Samuil,” he said, adding that the agreement was the result of active talks between the two countries.

Radev called on Bulgarians to take part in an event at Sofia’s central Battenberg Square on October 3, for the arrival of the tsar’s remains and to “pay homage to a great Bulgarian ruler”.

On the morning of the same day, he will be at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, where, at a ceremony organized by the Greek prime minister, the remains of Tsar Samuil will be officially handed over to the Bulgarian state.

They will be transported by a “Spartan” aircraft to Sofia and placed in a sarcophagus in the “St. Sofia” church, where, as a child, the future tsar of Bulgaria was introduced to Christianity.

The remains from two other sarcophagi discovered in the same church will also be handed over to Bulgaria.

They are believed to belong to Tsar Gavril Radomir and other members of the royal family.

At today’s meeting, the government will approve the text of an agreement between Bulgaria and Greece, authorizing the culture minister to sign it together with his Greek counterpart.

“The agreement provides for the reciprocal transfer, for safekeeping, of historical objects, as well as religious and cultural objects and relics,” Radev said.

“The Bulgarian state’s efforts to return the remains of Tsar Samuil date back to 1965, when the world-renowned Greek archaeologist Prof. Nikolaos Moutsopoulos discovered them during excavations at the basilica built by Samuil on the island of St. Achillios in Little Prespa Lake, where Samuil had his summer residence,” the prime minister said.

He stressed that for six decades the Bulgarian state had never stopped its efforts to return the remains of Tsar Samuil.

“We have had the historic honor of achieving this, and I wish to express my deepest gratitude to the prime minister of friendly Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, for the statesmanlike vision, political courage and determination to reach this agreement together, which further strengthens the ties between our two countries,” Radev said.

He stressed that today Samuil’s memory unites rather than divides the two countries, while their joint EU membership helps each country better understand the other’s sensitivities.