Bulgaria flies Tsar Samuel's remains from Thessaloniki to a 2.5-tonne sarcophagus in Sofia

Bulgaria received the remains attributed to Tsar Samuel on Saturday, 3 October, in a state ceremony that began at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki and ended at the Basilica of St Sophia in Sofia. Prime Minister Rumen Radev and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis attended the handover. Culture ministers Evtim Miloshev and Lina Mendoni signed the protocol.

A Bulgarian Air Force Spartan carried the remains to Vasil Levski Airport, landing at 1 p.m. MiG-29s and F-16s escorted the transport. The formation flew over Knyaz Alexander I Square, and the fighters made a second pass after the Spartan landed. The armed forces moved the remains from the airport to the square. A 21-gun salute was fired as the national anthem was played. Patriarch Daniil led the service at St Sophia, where the remains were placed in a 2.5-tonne marble sarcophagus cut from stone quarried in lands Samuel once ruled. The state railway BDZ ran free trains to Sofia for the day.

Who stood on the square

President Iliana Yotova attended, with all three living former presidents: Petar Stoyanov, Georgi Parvanov and Rosen Plevneliev. GERB leader Boyko Borissov, Kiril Petkov and We Continue the Change leader Asen Vasilev were also there. Novinite reported thousands on the square, many of them young. The government had invited the public to gather at Alexander I Square at 12:30 p.m.

Samuel ruled from 997 to 1014. He died on 6 October 1014, after the defeat at Kleidion, where Basil II blinded the bulk of the captured Bulgarian army. The return therefore lands three days before the anniversary of his death, and a little over three weeks before Bulgaria's presidential election on 25 October. Talks on the remains go back to the 1970s. President Yotova, on 30 September, called the agreement a major result for the government and for Bulgarian diplomacy. Radev had announced it at the start of the cabinet meeting on 29 September.

What Greece received in return

The exchange was not one-way. Bulgaria returned 48 ecclesiastical objects taken in 1917, including an episcopal throne, vestments and Gospel covers, drawn from the Metropolis of Serres and Nigrita and from monasteries in that region. Those objects are to be shown in Thessaloniki until 5 November, then sent back to the monasteries. Bulgaria is also due to receive remains from two other sarcophagi at the same basilica, attributed to Tsar Gavril Radomir and other members of the royal family.

The bones themselves have a long Greek custody. They were associated with the basilica of Agios Achillios at Prespa and later held at the Museum of Byzantine Culture. Greek archaeological opinion has been sharp about the trade. Bulgarian medievalist Konstantin Golev, quoted by Novinite, treated the exchange as favourable to Sofia and questioned the rush before further tests. Theologian Ventsislav Karavalchev criticised the secrecy around the deal. Those are arguments about method. The protocol, the aircraft, the sarcophagus and the 48 objects are on the record.

The election sitting behind the procession

The timing is hard to separate from the vote. Novinite reported Yotova at 50.2 percent in polling and Andrey Gyurov at 23.7 percent. Radev, who moved from the presidency to the premiership, has treated the return as a foreign-policy result. Yotova has used the medieval calendar in her own campaign, including an appearance at the Golden Church in Veliki Preslav. North Macedonia's prime minister, Hristijan Mickoski, has his own claim on Samuel in Skopje's historiography. The remains are now in Sofia, not in a third capital.

The open question is what the state does with the bones after the cameras leave. They sit in a named sarcophagus in a working church, three days before the 6 October anniversary and 22 days before a presidential election. The protocol with Athens is signed. The tests some Bulgarian historians wanted are not.