The remains of Tsar Samuel return to Bulgaria/ Athens hopes the gesture will support the request for the repatriation of the Parthenon Marbles

The remains of the medieval tsar Samuel will be transported on Saturday from Greece to Sofia, with state honors, a fighter jet escort, and a 21-gun salute. They were discovered 60 years ago in a Greek border area.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis believes that the transfer reflects an international reassessment of cultural heritage protection and may support Athens’s efforts to convince Britain to return the Parthenon Marbles, held at the British Museum.

The agreement also provides for the return to Greece of religious relics taken from monasteries during the First World War. Samuel, defeated by the Byzantine Empire in 1014, is a symbol of Bulgarian identity.