\n<\/p>\n
The handover included priceless religious objects removed from Greece during the First World War, and remains thought to belong to Tsar Samuel, Bulgaria\u2019s medieval warrior ruler.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he hoped the accord would strengthen Greece\u2019s case with Britain. \u201cThe global community is essentially re-evaluating its longstanding stance on protecting cultural heritage,\u201d he told the Saturday ceremony. \u201cMonuments and historical heirlooms cannot be treated as spoils of war, nor as the result of circumstances subsequent to their creation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The deal followed about 50 years of cultural talks between the neighbours. Mitsotakis called it proof of the \u201cpolitical will\u201d needed to settle long-running disputes, including the row over the fifth-century BC Parthenon marbles. \u201cIt took time, and above all, political will and determination to overcome the obstacles of the past,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Under the agreement, 48 relics \u2014 icons, crosses and ornate ecclesiastical vessels \u2014 looted by Bulgarian troops from churches and monasteries in northern Greece will return to Athens. They had been held at Bulgaria\u2019s National History Museum for more than a century.<\/p>\n
The remains of Tsar Samuel, regarded in Bulgaria as a national hero for resisting the Byzantine empire, were found by archaeologists more than 60 years ago in a border area of Greece. They were flown to Sofia on a military aircraft with a fighter escort and a 21-gun salute. Free transport was arranged for pilgrims.<\/p>\n
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the items belonged to both peoples. \u201cIf in the past Tsar Samuel divided us, I can say that today he unites us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mitsotakis said Greece\u2019s campaign for the marbles was not a vague national claim and did not question the mission of museums. Athens wants the sculptures reunited so the monument can be seen whole.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is precisely this same principle \u2014 the principle of the integrity of a monument \u2014 that underpins our continuous efforts to reunite the Parthenon sculptures,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Parthenon constitutes a unique and singular case\u2026 [The campaign] is about the restoration of a universal monument that remains violently dismembered.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that Greece would not accept arrangements that imply recognition of foreign sovereignty or the borrowing of its own treasures. \u201cIt now believes that the time has come for truth, for reason, for justice and morality.\u201d<\/p>\n
The carvings were removed from the Parthenon on the orders of Lord Elgin, then British ambassador to the Ottoman court, and acquired by the British Museum in 1816 after he was forced to sell them. They have been on display there ever since.<\/p>\n