Greece returns priceless relics – and suggests UK should follow suit with Parthenon marbles

Statue of Tsar Samuel in Sofia, Bulgaria. As part of the agreement, Bulgaria is returning relics taken from Greek monasteries during the first world war. Photograph: Lambros Kazanas/Alamy

In a ceremony replete with the sort of fanfare usually reserved for great events, Greece and Bulgaria have formally exchanged “a treasury” of relics and bones, sealing a cultural deal negotiated over decades.

The handover involved priceless religious objects removed from Greece at the height of the first world war, as well as remains thought to belong to Tsar Samuel, Bulgaria’s revered medieval warrior ruler.