Remains of Bulgaria’s Czar Samuel return ‘home’ after 1,000 years

The emperor is a symbol of Bulgarian national identity whose repatriation stoked tensions with Greece.

Bulgaria's military personnel carry a coffin with the remains of medieval ruler Czar Samuel during a handover ceremony, in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, on Saturday [Giannis Papanikos/AP]

More than 1,000 years after his death, the remains of medieval ruler Czar Samuel have arrived in Bulgaria.

A symbol of Bulgarian national identity, Samuel was a warrior emperor who battled the Byzantine Empire to expand his kingdom before suffering defeat and dying soon after in 1014. His supposed remains were discovered in a Greek border area in the 1960s.

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The coffin and remains were flown on Saturday to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, on board a military aircraft that was surrounded by air force fighter jets.

Thousands of people poured into a public square to honour the czar’s arrival, which capped years of fraught negotiations between Bulgaria and Greece until an accord was reached this week.

Bulgarian politicians across the spectrum paid tribute to the medieval ruler, listening to the national anthem and a 21-gun salute.

“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,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said.

“That is why Europe must not reopen old wounds but must work for peace as the supreme good,” Radev continued, referring to the centuries-old rivalry between neighbouring Greece and Bulgaria.

Crowds cheered as fighter jets performed a flypast.

Martin Nestorov, a 42-year-old software engineer, told the AFP news agency he attended the ceremony “to welcome Czar Samuel back to Bulgaria, where he belongs”.

“I am here because I am Bulgarian, and a Bulgarian is returning to his homeland,” added Tsanka Zlatkova, 65, a retired art historian.

A procession brought the remains to be laid in the Church of Saint Sofia, a sixth-century basilica that is the capital’s namesake and where church officials say Samuel was baptised.

The remains of medieval ruler Czar Samuel inside a coffin Saturday, October 3, 2026 [Giannis Papanikos/AP]

The handover of Samuel’s remains is part of a broader accord between the Greek and Bulgarian culture ministers.

In exchange, Greece is slated to receive 48 objects that Bulgarian troops pillaged from churches and monasteries in Greece during World War I.

Speaking before the handover, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he hoped the ceremony would boost Greece’s campaign to repatriate the Parthenon Marbles , a collection of 2,500-year-old marble sculptures taken from the Acropolis in Athens and later displayed in the British Museum.

“The global community is essentially re-evaluating its longstanding stance on protecting cultural heritage,” Mitsotakis said, adding that historical heirlooms “cannot be treated as the spoils of war”.

Bulgaria is not the only country to have claims on Samuel. A huge statue of the czar stands in the North Macedonian capital of Skopje, with Macedonians claiming him as “their” ruler.

In 2022, a bilateral commission recommended presenting Samuel as the head of a state that “most contemporary historiographers consider to be the Bulgarian Empire”, based in what is currently North Macedonia.

皇帝是保加利亚民族认同的象征，他的遣返加剧了保加利亚与希腊之间的紧张关系。

周六，在希腊北部城市塞萨洛尼基举行的交接仪式上，保加利亚军人抬着装有中世纪统治者沙皇萨穆埃尔遗体的棺材。[Giannis Papanikos/AP]

在他去世1000多年后，中世纪统治者沙皇萨穆埃尔的遗骸抵达保加利亚。

作为保加利亚民族认同的象征，萨穆埃尔是一位骁勇善战的皇帝，他与拜占庭帝国作战以扩张自己的王国，但在战败后不久于 1014 年去世。据称他的遗骸于 20 世纪 60 年代在希腊边境地区被发现。

（共4条） 大英博物馆馆长辞职，承认在盗窃案调查中存在失职 （列表1/4）

问题 2（共 4 题）：大英博物馆的藏品来自哪里？

列表 3/4：帕特农神庙雕塑如何引发希腊和英国之间的外交争端

泰国准备迎接被盗古代雕像回归，这些雕像目前在美国博物馆中。（共4条，此为第4条）

周六，棺材和遗体被装上一架军用飞机，在空军战斗机的护航下，运往保加利亚首都索非亚。

成千上万的人涌入广场，迎接沙皇的到来。此前，保加利亚和希腊之间进行了多年的艰难谈判，直到本周才达成协议。

保加利亚各派政治家向这位中世纪统治者致敬，聆听了国歌和 21 响礼炮。

保加利亚总理鲁门·拉德夫表示：“今天，我们欧洲人学习阅读历史，渴望不仅归属我们的祖国，也归属将我们整个欧洲大陆团结在一起的文化。”

“正因如此，欧洲不应重揭旧伤疤，而应将和平视为至高无上的善举，”拉德夫继续说道，他指的是邻国希腊和保加利亚之间长达几个世纪的敌对关系。

战斗机进行飞行表演时，人群欢呼雀跃。

42岁的软件工程师马丁·内斯托罗夫告诉法新社，他参加仪式是为了“欢迎沙皇萨穆埃尔回到保加利亚，那里才是他应该在的地方”。

“我来到这里是因为我是保加利亚人，一个保加利亚人正在返回他的祖国，”65岁的退休艺术史学家赞卡·兹拉特科娃补充道。

一支送葬队伍将遗体安放在圣索菲亚教堂，这是一座六世纪的大教堂，也是首都的命名由来，教会官员称塞缪尔就是在这里接受洗礼的。

2026年10月3日星期六，中世纪统治者沙皇萨穆埃尔的遗骸被安放在棺材中。[Giannis Papanikos/AP]

移交塞缪尔遗骸是希腊和保加利亚文化部长之间一项更广泛协议的一部分。

作为交换，希腊将获得一战期间保加利亚军队从希腊教堂和修道院掠夺的 48 件物品。

在交接仪式前，希腊总理基里亚科斯·米佐塔基斯表示，他希望此次仪式能够推动希腊争取归还帕特农神庙大理石雕塑的运动。这些雕塑是2500年前从雅典卫城被盗走的大理石雕塑，后来在大英博物馆展出。

米佐塔基斯表示，“国际社会正在重新评估其长期以来对保护文化遗产的立场”，并补充说，历史文物“不能被视为战争的战利品”。

保加利亚并非唯一声称对萨穆埃尔拥有主权的国家。在北马其顿首都斯科普里，矗立着这座沙皇的巨型雕像，马其顿人声称他是“他们的”统治者。

2022 年，一个双边委员会建议将萨穆埃尔塑造成一个国家的元首，这个国家“大多数当代历史学家认为是保加利亚帝国”，其领土位于现在的北马其顿。