Portal:Bulgaria/Selected article/8

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Simeon I (also Symeon) I the Great (Bulgarian: Симеон I Велики, transliterated Simeon I Veliki; IPA: /si.mɛ.ˈɔn ˈpɤr.vi vɛ.ˈli.ki/) ruled over Bulgaria from 893 to 927, during the First Bulgarian Empire. Simeon's successful campaigns against the Byzantines, Magyars and Serbs led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion ever, making it the most powerful state in contemporary Eastern Europe. His reign was also a period of unmatched cultural prosperity and enlightenment later deemed the Golden Age of Bulgarian 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.