The remains of medieval Bulgarian ruler Czar Samuel arrived in Sofia Saturday aboard a military aircraft escorted by fighter jets, capping decades of negotiation with Greece and reuniting Bulgaria with a figure its political establishment has long treated as a foundational symbol of national identity. Bulgaria
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Bulgarian President Rumen Radev attended a handover ceremony at Thessaloniki’s Museum of Byzantine Civilization, where the remains had been held since their discovery in a Greek border area roughly 60 years ago, before the coffin was flown to Sofia and paraded through a central public square to crowds of thousands. Samuel, a warrior emperor who battled the Byzantine Empire to expand his kingdom before his defeat and death in 1014, has featured in Bulgarian nationalist iconography for generations despite the more than a millennium separating his reign from the present day.
ATN, New York has gathered that Saturday’s handover forms one half of a broader cultural restitution agreement reached this week between the Greek and Bulgarian culture ministers: in exchange for Samuel’s remains, Greece is set to receive 48 religious artifacts that Bulgarian troops looted from churches and monasteries in Greek territory during World War I. Radev framed the exchange as a model for resolving historical grievances between neighboring states rather than deepening them. “These are items that belong to both our peoples; they constitute our memory and our bond, and our compatriots and future generations deserve and must have the opportunity to pay tribute to their ancestors,” Radev said at the Thessaloniki ceremony, adding later in Sofia, “today, we Europeans are learning to read history with a desire to belong not only to our homeland, but also to the culture that unites us across the entire European continent.”
Read Also: Ghana: Return Our Gold, Asante King Urges British Museum
Not every voice on the Greek side welcomed the arrangement with equal enthusiasm. Several prominent Greek academics and religious leaders criticized the deal as inadequate from Bulgaria’s end, suggesting the returned artifacts did not fully offset what Greece was giving up in handing over remains many Greeks consider to carry their own historical significance given the border region where they were discovered. Mitsotakis nonetheless used the ceremony to position the handover within a larger international campaign he has pursued throughout his tenure: the push to recover the Parthenon Marbles, a set of 2,500-year-old sculptures removed from the Acropolis and held by the British Museum since the early 19th century. “The global community is essentially re-evaluating its longstanding stance on protecting cultural heritage,” Mitsotakis said, arguing that historical heirlooms “cannot be treated as the spoils of war, nor as the result of circumstances subsequent to their creation.”
Crowds in Sofia responded to the remains’ arrival with open emotion. Martin Nestorov, a 42-year-old software engineer, told AFP he had come “to welcome Czar Samuel back to Bulgaria, where he belongs.” Tsanka Zlatkova, a 65-year-old retired art historian, offered a similarly direct explanation for attending. “I am here because I am Bulgarian, and a Bulgarian is returning to his homeland,” she said. A formal procession later carried the remains to the Church of Saint Sofia, a sixth-century basilica that lends the capital its name and where church officials maintain Samuel was baptized centuries ago.
The ceremony drew political tribute from across Bulgaria’s spectrum, with lawmakers observing the national anthem and a 21-gun salute as fighter jets performed a flypast overhead. Radev’s remarks returned repeatedly to the theme of healing rather than reopening old wounds between Sofia and Athens, a nod to centuries of rivalry between the two Balkan neighbors that has periodically resurfaced around competing historical claims.
Read Also: Nigeria Extols US Over Repatriation Of Benin Artefacts
Bulgaria’s claim to Samuel is itself contested beyond its border with Greece. A large statue of the czar stands in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, where many Macedonians regard Samuel as their own ruler rather than a purely Bulgarian one. A bilateral historical commission recommended in 2022 that Samuel be presented as the head of a state most contemporary historians consider the Bulgarian Empire, based in territory that is now part of North Macedonia, a formulation intended to bridge, without fully resolving, the competing national narratives both countries attach to the medieval ruler’s legacy.
Bulgarian officials have not indicated what long-term display or memorial plans they intend for the remains beyond their initial placement at the Church of Saint Sofia, and Greek officials have not specified a timeline for the promised return of the 48 looted artifacts under the broader agreement reached this week.
