Bulgaria's government has adopted a spending of BGN 0.6 M for the commemoration of 1000 years since the 1014 death of medieval Bulgarian ruler Tsar Samuil.

The money will be predominantly directed to the budgets of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Finance.

Solemn events for the millenium since the tragic death of Samuil inculde an international research conference, many exhibitions, concerts and commemorative editions.

A monument to Tsar Samuil is planned to be erected in the center of Bulgarian capital Sofia. The monument to the medieval emperor in the now closed military unit near southwestern town of Kresna will be moved to the town itself.

Samuil (or Samuel) ruled Bulgaria 997-1014, when the country was defending itself against a successful expansion on the part of the Byzantine Empire.

The first years of his rule were marked by military victories and a consolidation of power.

However, tides turned in a series of events which led to the famous Battle of Kleidion by the contemporary Bulgarian village of Klyuch near Petrich in southwestern Bulgaria.

After finding a circumventing pass in the Belasitsa mountain, the Byzantines routed the Bulgarian army, taking some 14,000 soldiers for prisoners.

Byzantine emperor Basil II ordered the prisoners blinded, leaving one one-eyed man for every 100, and sent them back home.

Tsar Samuil is said to have sustained a heart attack after seeing them, and passed away October 15, 1014.

Bulgaria fell under Byzantium in 1018, to be freed again in 1185 in the uprising of noblemen Asen and Petar.

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