Bulgaria and Greece Show Mutual Trust as Greece Returns the Remains of a 10th-Century Bulgarian Tsar

Bulgaria and Greece have reached a historic agreement on the transfer to Bulgaria of the remains identified as those of Tsar Samuel. The news was announced on 29 September 2026 by Prime Minister Rumen Radev, who said the agreement was the result of prolonged and intensive negotiations between the two countries.

The official handover ceremony will take place on 3 October at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki. The remains will then be transported to Sofia aboard a Bulgarian Air Force Spartan military transport aircraft. The remains attributed to the medieval Bulgarian ruler will be placed in a specially designed sarcophagus in the Church St. Sophia.

Along with them, Bulgaria will receive anthropological material from other sarcophagi discovered in the Basilica of St. Achilleios on the island of the same name in Lake Small Prespa. According to the Bulgarian government, some of these remains are associated with Tsar Gavril Radomir and other members of the royal family. The Greek Ministry of Culture has stated that Bulgaria will receive the anthropological material discovered in all four sarcophagi in the basilica.

Under the agreement, Bulgaria will provide Greece with 48 historical and religious artefacts originating from the Monastery of Panagia Eikosifoinissa, the Monastery of Timios Prodromos near Serres, and the Holy Metropolis of Serres and Nigrita. The objects were transferred to Sofia in 1917, during the First World War, and were subsequently preserved or displayed at Bulgaria’s National History Museum. They include ecclesiastical relics and other objects of historical and religious significance.

The memorandum provides for the reciprocal transfer for safekeeping of relics of historical significance to the two countries. Bulgaria and Greece have also agreed to continue discussions concerning other historical objects of mutual interest.

Bulgarian Minister of Education and Science Prof. Dr. Georgi Valchev described the agreement as an example of how two neighbouring countries, both members of the European Union and NATO, can overcome historical issues inherited from the past.

According to Valchev, the memorandum also sends an important message to all countries in the Balkans. “This is the path through which we can overcome all those events that have left scars on our national consciousness, contributed to divisions in the Balkans, and are responsible for many of the problems that still remain unresolved. The Balkans are a wonderful place. Through such symbolic gestures, we can truly restore this shared space of a common Balkan destiny and cultural identity, and assume a much stronger place within Europe itself, because the Balkans have always suffered from division.

“As a professor and as Rector of Sofia University, I have always sought to rise above these divisions and to open new paths for young people,” Minister Georgi Valchev said in an interview with Bulgarian National Television (BNT).