Prime Minister Rumen Radev and the delegation he led arrived in Thessaloniki for the ceremony of handing over the mortal remains of the Bulgarian Tsar Samuil.
The delegation includes Deputy Prime Minister Ivo Hristov and Minister of Culture Evtim Miloshev. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni will participate from the Greek side. The ceremony is also expected to be attended by representatives of the academic community, including Prof. Lyudmil Vagalinski from the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
Prime Minister Radev is expected to arrive at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki at around 10:30 a.m. local time, where he and Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis will make joint statements. The official ceremony for the handover of the remains and the exchange of the handover protocols will then begin. The Ministers of Culture of Bulgaria and Greece - Evtim Miloshev and Lina Mendoni - will participate in it. The Greek Ministry of Culture confirmed that the protocols will be signed at the museum in the presence of the prime ministers of both countries.
The agreement between Sofia and Athens provides for Greece to hand over to Bulgaria the remains identified as belonging to Tsar Samuil (997-1014), discovered in the Basilica of “St. Achilles“ in the Small Prespa Lake by the Greek archaeologist Prof. Nikolaos Moutsopoulos. Bulgaria, in turn, is handing over 48 church relics to Greece.
After the ceremony, the mortal remains of Tsar Samuil will be transported to Sofia by the military transport plane “Spartan“. After entering Bulgarian airspace, the plane will be escorted by MiG-29 and F-16 fighters, and at around 12:40 p.m. it is expected to land at “Vasil Levski“ airport.
At 1:20 p.m., a state ceremony to welcome them is scheduled at “Knyaz Alexander I“ Square in Sofia. The remains will then be taken in procession to the Basilica of St. Sophia, where they will be laid in a specially prepared sarcophagus and a memorial service will be held.