Plevneliev: Bulgaria should not rest until getting Tsar Samuil’s bones from Greece
Bulgarian head of state President Rossen Plevneliev used the June 8 ceremony of the unveiling of a controversial statue of Tsar Samuil in Sofia to call for the 10th century Bulgarian ruler’s bones to be transferred to Bulgaria from their current place in a Greek museum.
“Our generation has the historical responsibility for the remains of Tsar Samuel to be returned to Bulgaria. The Bulgarian state should not rest until his bones are returned to Bulgaria,” Plevneliev said.
Plevneliev, noting that in October 2014 he had the opportunity to venerate the remains of Samuil, which for the occasion were taken out to be put on display at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, said that the return of the bones to Bulgaria “would be a symbolic act of historic reconciliation between the Bulgarian and Greek people”.
Plevneliev also touched on the public controversy about the new statue outside the St Sofia basilica, calling for society not be divided on the issue.
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(Archive photo, of Plevneliev and the bones of Tsar Samuil in Thessaloniki on October 6 2014: president.bg)
