Greek media gave extensive coverage to Saturday’s ceremony in Thessaloniki marking the handover of the remains of Tsar Samuel to Bulgaria and the return of 48 ecclesiastical relics to Greece, with the main focus being on the historical significance of the agreement, the origin of the relics and the scientific evidence used to identify the remains.
The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) described the arrangement as a historic agreement and covered the signing of the handover protocols at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki in the presence of Rumen Radev and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the prime ministers of Bulgaria and Greece. ERT noted that 48 relics are being returned to Greece more than a century after they were taken to Bulgaria, and that the Greek side is handing over the remains identified as belonging to Samuel.
Kathimerini devoted considerable attention to the question of how the remains were identified. The newspaper reported that a great deal of scientific research was carried out, including an anthropological analysis at the Malcolm H. Wiener Laboratory for Archaeological Science at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. A proteomic analysis was also carried out at the Bonn Center for ArchaeoSciences. Kathimerini further cited the burial site, the type of sarcophagus, the dating of the burial cloth and the signs of trauma to the left arm as evidence supporting the initial identification by Prof. Nikolaos Moutsopoulos, who discovered the remains in 1969.
Kathimerini’s article reads: “The [48] artifacts being returned to Greece were removed in 1917, during World War I, and were subsequently held or displayed at Bulgaria’s National Museum of History in Sofia. They come from the Monastery of Panagia Eikosifoinissa, the Monastery of Timios Prodromos in Serres and the Metropolitan Diocese of Serres and Nigrita in northern Greece. […] The returned Greek artifacts are on display at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki through November 5. They will then be formally handed over to the monasteries and the diocese from which they were removed more than a century ago.”
Bulgaria also received the remains of two more sarcophagi that were discovered in the same church on the island of Agios Achillios. Moutsopoulos believed that the remains in them belong to Tsar Gavril Radomir and to other members of the royal family.
Proto Thema focused primarily on the return of the 48 relics to Greece and published photographs of some of them. The publication noted that the items were taken to Bulgaria in 1917 during the First World War. The Thessaloniki-based publication Voria highlighted their origin and noted that they consist mainly of church vestments and gospel covers. Voria reported that the relics will be presented to the public by the Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, on October 10.
Greek Media Report on Tsar Samuel’s Remains Handover and Return of 48 Ecclesiastical Relics 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-10-03 14:14:16
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