Church of St Petka of the Saddlers

Archeology

According to one theory, Bulgarian national hero Vasil Levski is buried in the church. Press reports from 1937 retelling the stories of those who carried out a reburial, which might have been for Levski^[1]: 33 and reports from the 1956 excavation speculating that bones found might have been those indicated by the 1937 press,^[1]: 36 led to the skeleton labeled "No. 95", being sent for professional examination. When Magdalina Stancheva, museologist and head of the Archaeology Department at the Sofia Regional Historical Museum received the bones, she sent them to the laboratory run by Petîr Boev at the Archaeological Institute for examination.^[1]: 69 The bones were either destroyed by mice or lost.^{[1]: 45, 69} Nikolai Khaitov, a popular writer,^[1]: 3 accused Stancheva; archaeologists Georgi Dzhingov and Stamen Mikhailov; Krîstiu Miiatev, director of the Archaeological Institute; and Todor Pavlov, president of the National Academy of Bulgaria of participating in a conspiracy to prevent investigation into Levski's burial site and publicly accused Stancheva of mishandling the remains.^{[1]: 69–71} Two commissions met over the controversy in the 1980s, and confirmed that there was no proof which could substantiate that the bones were Levski's, as the bones were missing.^{[1]: 45, 64}