Lead seal of Tsar Simeon I found in Veliki Preslav

Archaeologists excavating in the ancient Bulgarian capital of Veliki Preslav have unearthed a lead seal belonging to Tsar Simeon I. The find, reported by Dariknews, was made during ongoing research at the Monastery of Georgi Sinkel, also known as the Monastery of Chargubilya Mostich, the right-hand man of the patriarch in the tenth-century Bulgarian capital.

Simeon I ruled Bulgaria from 893 to 927 AD. His reign saw an expansion of Slavic literary culture and repeated military and diplomatic confrontations with Byzantium.

What the seal reveals

Professor Kazimir Popkonstantinov, who announced the discovery, said the seal carries inscriptions in Greek on both sides. The front bears the phrase "many years to the peace-making emperor" alongside an image of the Mother of God with a halo, holding a medallion with the Christ child. The reverse shows a circular inscription reading "many years to Simeon the emperor," with a central portrait of the ruler in full frontal pose, wearing imperial regalia, holding an orb topped with a cross in his right hand and the imperial labarum standard resting on his left shoulder.

Popkonstantinov noted that 2027 will mark the 1,100th anniversary of Simeon's death, an occasion Bulgaria intends to commemorate.

A rare controlled find

Associate professor Rosina Kostova, who leads the monastery excavations, said the seal is direct physical evidence of correspondence between Tsar Simeon and someone inside the monastery, confirming a royal connection to the site. Dariknews reports that only 19 such lead seals of Simeon are known to exist. Of those, only three, now including this one, were recovered during controlled archaeological digs. The rest turned up as chance finds with no recorded context.

The excavations are funded through a project of Veliko Tarnovo University "St. St. Cyril and Methodius" under the regular programme of Bulgaria's Ministry of Culture for field archaeological research in 2025. Students from the university's archaeology programme are completing mandatory practical training at the site alongside local labourers from Veliki Preslav. The dig is scheduled to continue until 5 August.