Medieval Bulgarian Ruler Czar Samuel Returns Home After a Millennium

More than 1,000 years after his death, the remains of medieval ruler Czar Samuel have finally arrived back in Bulgaria following a historic handover ceremony in Thessaloniki, northern Greece.

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

The coffin containing the remains was flown to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, aboard a military aircraft escorted by air force fighter jets. Thousands of citizens gathered in a public square to welcome the czar back, marking the culmination of years of tense negotiations between Bulgaria and Greece that finally resulted in an agreement.

Bulgarian politicians across the political spectrum honored the medieval monarch during a ceremony featuring the national anthem and a 21-gun salute. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev emphasized the importance of peace and unity across the European continent. Crowds cheered enthusiastically as fighter jets performed a special flypast.

The procession ultimately delivered the remains to the Church of Saint Sofia, a historic sixth-century basilica where church officials note the ruler was originally baptised.

The repatriation of Czar Samuel's remains is part of a broader cultural accord negotiated by the Greek and Bulgarian culture ministers. Under the agreement, Greece is set to receive 48 cultural artifacts that Bulgarian troops removed from churches and monasteries in Greece during World War I.

Ahead of the event, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed hope that the cooperative gesture would support Greece's ongoing efforts to repatriate the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum. Meanwhile, competing historical claims persist, as North Macedonia also claims the ruler, with a large statue located in Skopje.