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The remains of medieval ruler Czar Samuel inside a coffin Saturday, October 3, 2026 [Giannis Papanikos\/AP]Competing claims<\/p>\nThe emperor is a symbol of Bulgarian national identity whose repatriation stoked tensions with Greece.<\/p>\n
Published On 3 Oct 20263 Oct 2026<\/p>\n
More than 1,000 years after his death, the remains of medieval ruler Czar Samuel have arrived in Bulgaria.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
Thousands of people poured into a public square to honour the czar\u2019s arrival, which capped years of fraught negotiations between Bulgaria and Greece until an accord was reached this week.<\/p>\n
Bulgarian politicians across the spectrum paid tribute to the medieval ruler, listening to the national anthem and a 21-gun salute.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, 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,\u201d Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why Europe must not reopen old wounds but must work for peace as the supreme good,\u201d Radev continued, referring to the centuries-old rivalry between neighbouring Greece and Bulgaria.<\/p>\n
Crowds cheered as fighter jets performed a flypast.<\/p>\n
Martin Nestorov, a 42-year-old software engineer, told the AFP news agency he attended the ceremony \u201cto welcome Czar Samuel back to Bulgaria, where he belongs\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am here because I am Bulgarian, and a Bulgarian is returning to his homeland,\u201d added Tsanka Zlatkova, 65, a retired art historian.<\/p>\n
A procession brought the remains to be laid in the Church of Saint Sofia, a sixth-century basilica that is the capital\u2019s namesake and where church officials say Samuel was baptised.<\/p>\n
The remains of medieval ruler Czar Samuel inside a coffin Saturday, October 3, 2026 [Giannis Papanikos\/AP]Competing claims<\/p>\n
The handover of Samuel\u2019s remains is part of a broader accord between the Greek and Bulgarian culture ministers.<\/p>\n
In exchange, Greece is slated to receive 48 objects that Bulgarian troops pillaged from churches and monasteries in Greece during World War I.<\/p>\n