Legacy and Popular Culture
Tsar Simeon I has remained among the most highly valued Bulgarian historical figures, as indicated by popular vote in the Velikite Bǎlgari (a spin-off of 100 Greatest Britons) television programme, which in February 2007 placed him fourth among the greatest Bulgarians ever. The last Bulgarian monarch, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was named after Simeon I. A brand of high-quality grape rakija, Car Simeon Veliki, also bears his name, and an Antarctic peak on Livingston Island of the South Shetland Islands was named Simeon Peak in his honour by the Antarctic Place-names Commission.
Simeon the Great has also been regularly featured in fiction. Bulgarian national writer Ivan Vazov dedicated a children's patriotic poem to him, "Car Simeon", and it was later arranged as a song, "Kraj Bosfora šum se vdiga" ("A Clamor Rises by the Bosphorus"). An eleven-episode drama series filmed in 1984, Zlatnijat vek (Golden Age), retells the story of Simeon's reign. In the series, the tsar is played by Marius Donkin. A historical drama play called Car Simeon — Zlatnijat vek and produced by Stefan Stajčev, director of the Silistra Theatre, debuted in December 2006. Ivan Samokovliev stars in the part of Simeon.
The painting, "The Bulgarian Tsar Simeon" is part of the 20-canvas work by Alfons Mucha, The Slav Epic.
Read more about this topic: Simeon I Of Bulgaria
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