Monument to Tsar Samuil - Sofia Municipality

Overview

The statue of the monument to Tsar Samuil is made of bronze with a height of 3.70 m. It is placed on a pedestal with a height of 2 m. It weighs nearly a ton and a half and is made of melted shell casings. The statue is made in a "realistic style". The head is turned down (towards the viewer). The right hand holds a patriarchal scepter, and the left, attached to the body, a sword in a scabbard. The head is crowned with a royal crown. The signs of the power of the medieval Bulgarian ruler (the ruler's insignia) are close to the prototypes from the X-XI century. The monument was built after a competition of the Bulgarian Memory Foundation, established and managed by the philanthropist Milen Vrabevski. The foundation organizes the competition and finances the construction of the moment at a preliminary value of BGN 100,000. The patriotic endeavor is supported by the Sofia Municipality. The monument was unveiled on June 8, 2015 with Guards honors, brass band and a solemn water dedication, celebrated by Bulgarian Patriarch Neophyte in the presence of President Rosen Plevneliev, Deputy Prime Minister Rumyana Bachvarova, Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova, former caretaker Prime Minister Georgi Bliznashki. officials. Placed by decision №580 under item 29, meeting №67, held on 11.09.2014. Tsar Samuel is the only Bulgarian medieval ruler whose tomb and remains have been preserved. The tomb of the ruler was discovered in 1969 on the island of "St. Achilles ”in the Little Prespa Lake (Aegean Macedonia, Greece) by the Greek scientist Prof. Nikolaos Mutzopoulos. The anthropological reconstruction of the head of Tsar Samuel, the work of Prof. Yordan Yordanov, can be seen in Nat. Anthropological Museum Bulgarian Academy of Ssience in Sofia.

So far, no monument to a medieval Bulgarian ruler has been erected in Sofia.