Bulgaria Exchanged with Greece the Remains of its Medieval Tsar
The remains, associated with the famous Bulgarian Tsar Samuel, were found during archaeological excavations in the Basilica of Saint Achill on Prespa Island. In 1965, Professor Nikolaos Moutsopoulos discovered four sarcophagi and anthropological materials there. In recent years, the findings have been kept in the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki. They are now being transferred to Bulgaria as part of a cultural exchange agreement between the two countries, writes Euronews.
In return, Greece will receive 48 relics from the monasteries of Panagia Ikosifinissis and John the Baptist in Serres, as well as from the Metropolis of Serres and Nigrita. Before their final return to the places from which these relics were taken, they will be exhibited at the Museum of Byzantine Culture until November 5, 2026.
The ceremony of mutual transfer took place on the morning of October 3 in Thessaloniki in the presence of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev. During the ceremony, relevant protocols for the transfer and reception of the relics were signed.
The procedure was the result of a memorandum of understanding, prepared after years of negotiations and regular contacts between the two countries. The document was signed by the Ministers of Culture of Greece and Bulgaria, Lina Mendoni and Yaftim Miloshev.
Tsar Samuel (reigned 997–1014, effectively from 976) was the ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire, known for his long and dramatic confrontation with the Byzantine Empire. For decades, he successfully contained Byzantium's expansion under Emperor Basil II and moved the capital of the state west, to Ohrid (now in North Macedonia).
In 1014, Samuel's army was defeated in the Battle of Kleidion (Belasitsa). Basil II ordered about 15,000 captured Bulgarians to be blinded, leaving only one one-eyed guide for every hundred to lead the blind back home.
Upon seeing his blinded army, Samuel, according to some sources, could not bear it and died of a heart attack. Four years after his death, in 1018, the First Bulgarian Empire finally fell under the blows of Byzantium.
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