The remains of Tsar Samuel return to Bulgaria on Saturday, flown to Sofia aboard a military aircraft after decades of negotiations with neighbouring Greece. The medieval ruler will be received with full state honours, including a fighter jet escort and a 21-gun salute.

A fighter escort and a 21-gun salute in Sofia

A fighter jet will escort the military aircraft into the Bulgarian capital, and a 21-gun salute will sound before a procession carries the remains to the Church of St Sophia. There, the public will be able to pay respects.

A deal struck between two culture ministries

The handover follows an agreement reached earlier this week between the culture ministers of the two countries. Under that deal:

• •Bulgaria will return religious relics removed from Greek monasteries during the first world war.
• •Several prominent Greek academics and religious leaders have questioned whether Bulgaria's contribution is adequate.

Who the warrior tsar was

Samuel battled the Byzantine empire to expand his kingdom, but was ultimately defeated and died shortly afterwards in 1014. He is considered a symbol of Bulgaria's national identity. His remains were discovered in a Greek border area 60 years ago.

In Thessaloniki, two leaders frame the handover

Before the handover, Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his Bulgarian counterpart, Rumen Radev, attended a ceremony at the Museum of Byzantine Civilization in Thessaloniki, where the remains were kept. Speaking at the ceremony, Radev said the items belong to both peoples and constitute their memory and their bond, and that compatriots and future generations deserve and must have the opportunity to pay tribute to their ancestors.

He added that if Tsar Samuel divided the two peoples in the past, today he unites them, and that Samuel strengthens the two countries' strategic cooperation and makes the historical relations between their states and peoples even stronger.

Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister, said he hoped the handover would lend weight to Athens's campaign for the Parthenon marbles' return from Britain. The marbles, a collection of 2,500-year-old sculptures taken from the Acropolis, are held by the British Museum. He said the global community is essentially reassessing its long-held position on protecting cultural heritage, and that the handover rests on the principle that monuments and historical heirlooms are neither war spoils nor the product of later circumstances.

The remains land in Sofia on Saturday; after the procession to the Church of St Sophia, the public will be able to pay respects.