On 3 October, Greece and Bulgaria held a ceremony in Thessaloniki to exchange cultural artefacts: Bulgaria received remains which the Greek side identifies as those of Tsar Samuel, whilst Greece was handed 48 ecclesiastical relics that had been taken to Sofia in 1917.<\/p>\n
Briefly about the main points<\/strong><\/p>\n According to the Greek government, Bulgaria has handed over remains which the Greek side identifies as belonging to a medieval ruler Samuel<\/strong>, as well as other anthropological material from four sarcophagi. It was discovered during excavations at the Basilica of Saint Achillius on Little Prespa in the mid-1960s.<\/p>\n For its part, Bulgaria is handing over to Greece 48 icons, crosses, church furnishings and other items associated with monasteries and ecclesiastical institutions in the Serres region. According to the Greek Ministry of Culture, these items were transported to Sofia in 1917, during the First World War, where they were stored or exhibited at the National Historical Museum of Bulgaria.<\/p>\n The artefacts will not be taken to Athens. Until 5 November, they will be on display at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, after which they will be transferred to the monasteries of Timios Prodromos and Panagia Eikosifoinissa, as well as to the Metropolises of Serres and Nigrita.<\/p>\n The remains were transported to Sofia by military aircraft, which was escorted from the border by Bulgarian fighter jets. A 21-gun salute was fired upon landing. The Bulgarian authorities also organised free return travel on designated trains for those wishing to attend the ceremony.<\/p>\n Prime Minister of Bulgaria Rumen Radev<\/strong> stated that the figure of Samuel, who had previously divided the two countries, could now strengthen the historical ties and strategic cooperation between Sofia and Athens.<\/p>\n Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis<\/strong> He described the agreement as the result of some 50 years of negotiations and an example of political will in disputes over cultural heritage. He linked it to Athens\u2019 campaign for the reunification of the Parthenon sculptures and emphasised the principle of the monument\u2019s integrity.<\/p>\n Mitsotakis stated that the time had come for \u00abtruth, reason, justice and morality\u00bb. This is the Greek Government\u2019s political position, not a legal consequence of the bilateral agreement with Bulgaria.<\/p>\n The Parthenon sculptures have been in the British Museum since 1816. The museum cites permission granted by the Ottoman authorities for Lord Elgin\u2019s actions, whilst Greece insists that the parts of the monument should be reunited. The agreement between Athens and Sofia does not place any obligation on the UK to return these sculptures.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On 3 October in Thessaloniki, Bulgaria received the remains which Greece identifies as those of Tsar Samuel, whilst Greece received 48 relics.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":207433404,"featured_media":31902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_description":"3 \u0436\u043e\u0432\u0442\u043d\u044f \u0432 \u0421\u0430\u043b\u043e\u043d\u0456\u043a\u0430\u0445 \u0411\u043e\u043b\u0433\u0430\u0440\u0456\u044f \u043e\u0442\u0440\u0438\u043c\u0430\u043b\u0430 \u043e\u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d\u043a\u0438, \u044f\u043a\u0456 \u0413\u0440\u0435\u0446\u0456\u044f \u0456\u0434\u0435\u043d\u0442\u0438\u0444\u0456\u043a\u0443\u0454 \u044f\u043a \u043f\u043e\u0432\u2019\u044f\u0437\u0430\u043d\u0456 \u0437 \u0446\u0430\u0440\u0435\u043c \u0421\u0430\u043c\u0443\u0457\u043b\u043e\u043c, \u0430 \u0413\u0440\u0435\u0446\u0456\u044f \u2014 48 \u0440\u0435\u043b\u0456\u043a\u0432\u0456\u0439.","rank_math_title":"\u0413\u0440\u0435\u0446\u0456\u044f \u0439 \u0411\u043e\u043b\u0433\u0430\u0440\u0456\u044f \u043e\u0431\u043c\u0456\u043d\u044f\u043b\u0438\u0441\u044f \u0440\u0435\u043b\u0456\u043a\u0432\u0456\u044f\u043c\u0438 \u0442\u0430 \u043e\u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d\u043a\u0430\u043c\u0438","rank_math_focus_keyword":"\u0413\u0440\u0435\u0446\u0456\u044f","td_subtitle":"","subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[805619],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207433404"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31903"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31915,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31903\/revisions\/31915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
What exactly did the parties hand over?<\/h2>\n
The relics will remain in Thessaloniki until November<\/h2>\n
A reference to the sculptures of the Parthenon<\/h2>\n