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Speaking of Polish archaeology in Kochanowski (1530-1584) an exotic place Egypt, one needs to go back to the first situated at the antipodes of the world; days of excavations at Edfu. The 1936/1937 other poets like Wespazjan Kochowski and season is the first milestone on the Polish Sebastian F. Klonowic expressed similar sen- road to the scientific status that the Polish timents. The famous diary of Prince Centre enjoys in Egypt today. It was the Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł (1549-1616) is visionary approach of Kazimierz Michałowski a typical example of travel literature of the (1901-1981) and his personal efforts that period. It should be noted, however, that his led to the establishment of a Franco-Polish “Hierosolymitana peregrinatio...” (published Mission which arrived in the town of Horus in Brunsbergae in 1601) was an European in December 1937 and started excavations bestseller (sic!) of the 17th century. The on 7 January 1937 (cf. J. Lipińska, Kazimierz sixth edition of the Peregrinations, printed in Michałowski, in this volume). Latin, appeared in Antwerp in 1614; earlier It is to the Centre’s founder, Professor it had already been published in German and Michałowski, that we owe foremost our Polish, and the Russian edition came out in friendship with the land on the Nile and 1787. Altogether 20 times within two with our Egyptian colleagues, the dozens hundred years! Radziwiłł’s descriptions of of years of warm intimacy with all our Egypt are still quoted in the literature of the associates without whom Egypt would not topic today, just as is the report of another have become a second home for so many Polish traveler, Count Jan Potocki (1761- of us, a home to which we return with the 1815), included in his “Voyage en Turquie greatest joy. et en Égypte, fait en l'année 1784” (Warsaw Fascination with ancient civilizations 1788). Undoubtedly one of the best books of the Near East came to much later about Egypt, “Travels in the Ancient World” than to other countries in Western Europe (Warsaw 1842), was written by a young and it never reached the same peak of in- traveler called Władysław Bey Wężyk (1816- tensity as in France, England, Prussia and 1848). In 1861 and 1862, Count Michał Italy. Even so, the land on the Nile was Tyszkiewicz (1828-1897), a collector of world present in Polish culture starting with the renown, was the first Polish amateur ar- 12th century. Egypt and its “seven-sleeved chaeologist to dig in Karnak and in West Nile” was for the Renaissance poet Jan Thebes (presumably close to Deir el-Bahari)

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and Esna; he published a description of his curiosities”, with Egyptian mummies being accomplishments in French in Paris. During displayed to the public next to turtle shells the same period (1861-1871), Prince Ignacy and other exotic items. Żagiell (1826-1891), court medic to Prince From the beginning Michałowski Halim (1831-1894), youngest son of the great strived for international cooperation, pri- Mohamed Ali, resided in Egypt. Jan marily with the Institut français d’archéolo- Ciągliński (1858-1913) painted numerous gie orientale (IFAO) in Cairo, the Service pictures of Egypt of the end of the 19th des Antiquités de l’Égypte (SAE) and foreign and beginning of the 20th century. archaeological institutes. Bonds of friend- A tragic illness cut short the brilliant ship were formed in many cases. During career of the first Polish Egyptologist Tadeusz the war, lieutenant Michałowski impris- Samuel Smoleński (1884-1909), then a citi- oned in a POW camp in Woldenberg re- zen of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (a free ceived a packet of dates. How touched he state of Poland did not exist at the time). was when he saw that the packet had been A hundred years ago this student of Gaston sent to him by his rais from Edfu (!). Maspero carried out excavations at the sites As a result of the war Polish researchers of Sharuna and El-Gamhud (1907-08) in had to wait another twenty years before Middle Egypt. they could return to the land on the Nile. Thirty years later Kazimierz Michałowski Michałowski was invited to lecture at the (1901-1981), already a professor of the Uni- University of Alexandria (1957) and he knew versity of Warsaw, came to Edfu, first as an he wanted to dig in this famous town. First, associate of Bernard Bruyère, then as an in- however, he started excavations in Tell Atrib dependent director of the Franco-Polish Mis- (1957) on the outskirts of Benha, right at sion in the 1937/38 and 1938/39 seasons the base of the Nile Delta. Immediately he (cf. J. Aksamit, in this volume). Michałowski launched a broad cooperation with the had set his goals on laying the foundations Egyptian Antiquities Service. With his for the field of Polish Egyptology and associates he carried out an extensive ar- Mediterranean archaeology. He introduced chaeological prospection of sites in Upper this branch of Polish science to the world (1958) and in the Delta (1959). This arena. His discoveries at Edfu contributed initial reconnaissance was organized in re- to an awakening of interest not merely in sponse to an appeal (1955) by Prof. Selim , but more broadly in Near Hassan of the Service for the protection and Eastern civilizations as a whole. Perhaps it scientific documentation of monuments of was then that the Professor formulated this Egyptian architecture and art in Nubia. often quoted conviction: ...in the judgment Michałowski’s survey report covered 17 sites of not only the scholarly world, but also the from Philae to Abu Simbel, extending over broadest public opinion of a civilized society, a stretch 600 km long. A long time earlier, the current level of culture in any country in 1821, this route was traveled by Orien- is measured by whether it runs its own ex- talist Józef Sękowski (1800-1858) who left cavations in Egypt. After all, until the middle a colorful description. The survey report, and of the 19th century objects from ancient especially Michałowski’s letter containing Egypt tended to be shown in “chambers of a proposal for the protection of specific

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features, was addressed to the General Di- Centre’s first secretary. There were three rector of the Service; it proved inestimable in other employees: architect Leszek Dąbrowski, pushing through UNESCO’s decision (end of accountant M. Strachota and administra- 1958) to announce an international action tion clerk Władysław Kubiak. One other for the salvage of monuments in Nubia. member of that first household should be The Joint Polish-Arabic Anthropo- remembered here: Mohamed Said Saleh logical Expedition started work at about (1931-2003), more than just a cook, indeed, this time (1958-1962). The expedition carried a friend. Starting out as a helper to his father, out the first ever investigations of morpho- Saad, the Centre’s first cook, for almost logical structure and certain physiological forty years Mohamed filled the house with features of the Egyptian population inhabit- his warm attention and care. ing the Western Desert and the oases of Kazimierz Michałowski served as Siwa, Bahariya and Fayum, carried out the Centre’s Director until his death in 1981. jointly by the Polish Academy of Sciences The institute rented a villa in the Heliopolis and the National Research Centre in Cairo. district of Cairo where it is today and only One of the scholars behind the idea for this the name of the street has changed from project and the co-publisher of a four-volume Baron Empain to Nazih Khalifa. Recently, publication was eminent anthropologist the Centre was able to purchase another Tadeusz Dzierżykray-Rogalski (1918-1998), villa in the vicinity thanks to funds pro- a member of the Centre’s expeditions, work- vided by the Foundation for Polish Science. ing on numerous sites in Egypt ever since the The establishment of the Centre in early 1960s. Cairo had the full support of the Egyptian Michałowski had extensive plans. Ministry of Culture and the Antiquities Foremost among these was setting up an Service (SAE). Relations with Prof. Anwar institute in Egypt, no easy matter when Shoukry, later President of the SAE, were more than just meritorious considerations particularly cordial. The Polish Ambassador played a role. His efforts in this direction in Egypt, Aleksander Krajewski, was also were greeted with applause when he pre- extremely helpful and effective in calling sented his ideas at the Senate of the Uni- into being the Centre as a research institu- versity of Warsaw, which in a meeting on tion of the with a seat 19 January 1959 called into being the Polish abroad, in Egypt. Its main task was to co- Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology with ordinate the activities of Polish missions quarters in Egypt. In August the Centre re- working in the Mediterranean. Until the ceived authorization from the government 1980s it had no quarters in Warsaw, even of the then United Arab Republic. This was though Professor Michałowski managed it the second milestone on the road. from Poland, through the Polish Academy In that early period the annual of Sciences, the University of Warsaw, the budget was determined at about 8000- National Museum in Warsaw, all of these 9000 Egyptian pounds (which translated being institutions in which he held direc- into about 16,000-18,000 dollars). Tadeusz torial posts. Formally, the Centre was Andrzejewski (1923-1961), an amazingly subordinated to the Rector of the University talented Egyptologist, took up work as the of Warsaw. Responsible for current affairs

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in Cairo was a Scientific Secretary and for a through the years. The Agreement was time the Centre also employed full-time ar- followed by executive protocols initiating chitects and photographers who resided in the archaeological and conservation work Cairo, especially Waldemar Jerke, whose of the first Polish-Egyptian missions. entire professional life has been associated Let us, however, return to the Nile with the institution. From the start it was where Tell Atrib (1957-1999) had become operated as a base for archaeological mis- the first training ground for young Polish ar- sions in the field, a place for scholars chaeologists and an excellent opportunity preparing publications of excavation results for close contacts with Egyptian colleagues, and researchers studying monuments in including Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim Bakr Egyptian museums, etc. Team members whose scientific career started here. When and directors have always been recruited the fate of the site was being decided, it from many different Polish research institu- was the personal involvement and help of tions and they have always represented Dr. Kamal Fakhmy, General Director for their own universities, museums, institutes Lower Egypt, that allowed us to continue the and labs while participating in the Centre’s work. Meanwhile, according to expecta- research programs. Their success has been tions, the ruins turned out to belong to an the Centre’s success, their great intellectual extensive town from the period of the last potential, organizational skills and didactic pharaohs of Egypt and in Ptolemaic through talents have always set directions for re- Byzantine times. The Greek Athribis was after search. The Centre is as much as the people all the capital of the tenth pharaonic nome of in it. Lower Egypt. With each field season, knowl- Following Michałowski’s death, it edge of the ancient town as an important became necessary to institutionalize the administrative and artistic center of the an- Centre within the structure of the Univer- cient Mediterranean grew. Michałowski sity of Warsaw (1981). Krystyna Polaczek ceded the direction of the excavations to Bar- was the first full-time employee of the bara Ruszczyc and she to Karol Myśliwiec, Warsaw office and she has been there who left it in turn to Hanna Szymańska (cf. every step of the way, from a small room K. Myśliwiec, Tell Atrib, in this volume) Bar- with telephone to the extensive quarters bara Ruszczyc localized the site of Egypt’s of today. After a quarter of a century she first legendary cathedral dedicated to the continues to manage the daily operations of Holy Virgin Mary. According to the written the institution with an astuteness and per- sources, the columns of the nave were sonal warmth that have become legendary. gilded. There are those among the Copts A bilateral Polish-Egyptian cultural of Benha who will swear that they can hear agreement signed in the late 1950s has the ringing of the bells of this cathedral been the base of a scholarship exchange coming from underground. that assisted the Centre in implementing its Alexandria, Egypt’s capital in the research projects and has allowed many times of the Hellenes and Romans, became young Egyptologists and conservators from a veritable jewel in the crown of the Centre’s Egypt to study in Poland, thus establishing achievements. Returning one day from bonds of friendship that have lasted University of Alexandria where he had been

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invited to lecture as a Visiting Professor in monumentale. Dr. Henry Riad shared with 1957, Michałowski observed concrete pil- us the hardships of regular excavations on the lars being driven into the ground on Kom el- kom and Dr. Dorea Said, then Director of the Dikka in the very center of the town. In his Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria, was own words, “a fountain of mosaic cubes” extremely effective in her assistance. Young went up into the air. The Egyptian author- scholars enjoyed the opportunity to spend ities needed little cajoling to decide (1958) nights reading in the library of the Société to call in Polish and Egyptian archaeolo- Archéologique d'Alexandrie thanks to the gists instead of building machines and in late lamented Prof. Daoud Abdu Daoud 1960 the mission began fieldwork, and many of them owe him words of kind headed initially by Arabist Władysław Ku- and sound advice. biak and architect Antoni Ostrasz (1929- The 1960s witnessed a series of 1996). The uncovering of a Roman bath spectacular successes and scientific achieve- (1962) was followed by a sensational dis- ments. The Centre’s excavations in the fa- covery (1963), the first theater building un- mous desert city of Palmyra in Syria (starting earthed on the Nile (cf. Z. Kiss, in this in 1959) brought the discovery of a few hun- volume). Recently, after many years of in- dred statues and inscriptions. The Christian vestigations, the building was found to basilica uncovered in in 1961, together have functioned at one time as a huge as- with an eparch’s palace and a bishop’s burial sembly hall, a kind of auditorium maximum ground were termed the “Miracle of Faras” in of the ancient academy of Alexandria (cf. the world press, especially because of the G. Majcherek, in this volume). The ruins are splendid murals preserved on the walls of the the oldest known standing remains of an church. In Nea Paphos, capital of Cyprus in the ancient university, meaning that you can reign of the Ptolemies, a team from the actually touch the walls and sit on the Centre (working since 1964) uncovered the stone seats in one of the lecture halls. Thus, residence of Roman proconsuls-governors of Alexandria became the third milestone on the island. The mosaic floors, sculpture and the Centre’s road to success. other finds from this town continue to draw The discoveries in Alexandria were attention of scholars even today. followed with a cordial interest by the The 1960s was also the time of the Centre’s Egyptian partners and colleagues. great scientific success of the American-Polish- The Polish-Egyptian Preservation Mission Egyptian Combined Prehistoric Expedition, was established based on a bilateral Cul- co-directed by Fred Wendorf of Southern tural Agreement and thanks to the dedica- Methodist University in Dallas and Romuald tion of Dr. Gamal Eddin Mokhtar, then Schild of the present Institute of Archaeol- President of the Egyptian Antiquities Or- ogy and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of ganization. His successor in office, Dr. Ahmed Sciences. While not a part of the Centre’s Kadry mediated in the purchase of land program, this project can hardly be over- from the army which occupied part of Kom looked when writing of Polish achieve- el-Dikka. This helped immensely in the ments in the Valley of the Nile. Since 1962 progress of excavations, leading in effect to the expedition has been investigating the the transformation of the site into a zona Quaternary geomorphology and the Palae-

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olithic of the Nile Valley, Eastern Sahara, While in Faras in 1961, Michałowski Sinai, North Sudan, Ethiopia and Yemen. received a cable from the Director of the Their work has helped to recognize the cul- Department of Archaeology in Cairo asking tural transformations that lay at the root him to commence the conservation of the of Egyptian civilization. famous terrace temple of in As for the Faras mission, it constituted Deir el-Bahari. It was a great distinction for the Polish response to UNESCO’s appeal to the Centre considering the uniqueness of save the monuments of Nubia which were the temple in world architecture and the to be inundated by the waters of an artifi- fact that the lower terraces had already cial lake (Lake Nasser) created behind a dam been restored by important and meritorious on the Nile. Faras turned out to be a great institutions: the Egypt Exploration Fund di- conservation challenge. Józef Gazy (1910- rected by Edouard Naville and the Metro- 1998) took down more than 120 murals politan Museum of Art under the direction from the walls of the cathedral. Properly of H.E. Winlock. The third terrace of the protected, these murals were transported temple had been excavated by Naville to museums in Khartoum and Warsaw. but it remained in ruins. Some 10,000 They have been exhibited all over the blocks and fragments of blocks had been world. The colors of these paintings, so left by our illustrious predecessors to be in- adroitly preserved by conservators, con- serted in their proper place in the temple tinue to be admired by crowds of visitors. walls. Faras confirmed the fame of the Polish In response to the cable, Leszek school of conservation. Dąbrowski was sent to Deir el-Bahari in the During the Nubian Campaign, the autumn of that year. The task facing the team Egyptian authorities requested assistance was gigantic (cf. Z.E. Szafrański, Deir el-Ba- from Polish architects in dismantling the hari. Temple of Hatshepsut, in this volume). temples at Tafa (1960) and Dabod (1960- Concealed among the thousands of blocks 61), both to be inundated by the waters of standing in rows on the temple terraces the dam lake. Marek Marciniak (1937- was the message of an exceptional queen 1996) conducted excavations at Dabod (in who became king of Egypt in the Eighteenth 1961) discovering the vestiges of earlier Dynasty (mid 15th century BC). The archi- sacral architecture from the New Kingdom. tectural form had to be reconstructed, the A Polish proposal for saving the Abu Simbel images identified and the texts read. The temple of Ramesses II was among the projects polychromy and stone had to be preserved. submitted to UNESCO. Professor Michałowski The implementation of a project on such was called upon to preside over the interna- a scale with all the inherent technical tional commission of the Egyptian Govern- problems required the cooperation of spe- ment and UNESCO for the dismantling and cialists in various fields. Slowly, this huge transferring to a higher location of the Abu puzzle was put together. The reconstruction Simbel temples. This most splendid monu- of the Upper (Coronation) Portico with its ment of Nubian art was saved for succes- columns, pillars and a few Osiriac statues sive generations of tourists who travel from of Hatshepsut was ready for the last day of around the world to see it. the Eight International Congress of Egyptol-

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ogists held in Cairo in April 2000. The Kings was documented by Marek Marciniak, colonnades and walls of the Upper (Festival) who continued the work commenced in Courtyard and the Main Sanctuary of 1959 by his professor, Tadeusz Andrzejewski, Amun-Re were also completed. and interrupted by the latter’s premature Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak death in 1961. Unfortunately, Marciniak officially opened this part of the temple to died suddenly in 1996 without completing the public on 21 March 2002. The cere- the project. Studies of ancient Greek and mony served to underline the temple’s status Latin graffiti in the tomb of Ramesses VI in as one of the monuments on UNESCO’s list the Valley of the Kings were undertaken in of world cultural heritage (since 1977), ex- 1996 by Adam Łukaszewicz. Polish engi- pressing at the same time presidential ap- neers, geologists, architects and restorers preciation for the Queen and the role she have repeatedly answered requests from played in Egypt’s history, not to mention the Egyptian antiquities authorities to give the Polish effort in returning the temple to its opinions on the current condition of various former magnificence. The Temple of Hat- royal tombs, especially that of Seti I. In 1979, shepsut was another milestone in the Centre’s a Polish project for the conservation of the activities in Egypt. tomb of Queen Nefertari, wife of Ramesses Clearance of eroded rock that com- II, located in the Valley of the Queens, was menced with the start of work at Deir el- among the submitted proposals. Bahari revealed (in 1962) a structure that Day-to-day activity in Deir el-Bahari no one had expected next to Hatshepsut’s has always abounded with its share of more edifice. In those days, the discovery of an or less difficult problems to solve and the entirely unknown temple was an exceptional friendly relations with the local SCA depart- event and it was widely commented in the ment in Thebes is instrumental in pushing world media and appeared on the covers the work forward. Always greatly appreci- of some of the most renowned periodicals. ated was the assistance of Dr. Mohamed The structure was identified as a previously El Saghir, later Director of the Luxor Museum unknown temple of Hatshepsut’s successor, and General Director for Upper Egypt, Tuthmosis III (cf. J. Lipińska, Deir el-Bahari. Dr. Mutawa Balbush, General Director for Temple of Tuthmosis III, in this volume). Upper Egypt and an advocate of our recon- Jadwiga Lipińska headed a mission which structions, and most recently the current investigated the remains of the temple for- General Director for Upper Egypt, Mr. Sabry mally until 1996, but the project for a theo- Abd El Aziz, Mrs. Sanna Ali, currently Director retical reconstruction is ongoing and has of the Luxor Museum and Mr. Ali al-Asfar, recently been resumed (in 2000) also in currently General Director for West Thebes. Egypt as an autonomous part of the re- The dighouse in Deir el-Bahari has search program of the Polish-Egyptian Mis- also served specialists from other fields, like sion to the Temple of Hatshepsut. anthropology, sedimentology and geology, The Polish presence in Deir el-Bahari working on separate research programs, as gave a start to some other Polish projects in well as Egyptological studies. Working under West Thebes. The tomb of New Kingdom the Centre’s auspices for two seasons Ramesses III in the Valley of the (1999-2000), Andrzej Niwiński’s Cliff Mission

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documented the graffiti and glyphs found even been recorded in a huge inscription, on the rocky cliff above the temples in Deir “Polish House No. 2”, painted in Polish and el-Bahari. Of the more than 200 previously Arabic on the wall of Ragab’s living-room. unknown inscriptions, of greatest interest Once the excavations in the temple were those dating to the Old Kingdom. In of Tuthmosis III were completed and the nearby Sheikh Abd el-Gurna, Tomasz Górecki thousands of polychromed blocks trans- discovered and has been excavating since ported to a storeroom built specifically for 2003 Coptic hermitages installed in and in the purpose, work inside the temple of front of rock-cut tombs of the Middle King- Hatshepsut was intensified. The restoration dom (TT 1151 and TT 1152) (cf. T. Górecki, of the Upper Terrace and the rock platform in this volume). His discovery in 2005 of discovered above it and identified as an three manuscripts of the mid 8th century in ingenious solution designed to protect the the hermitage’s rubbish dump became the edifice from rocks falling from the cliff talk of the season. The books are in the above, required a specialized task force. process of conservation by specialists from Gamal Eddin Mokhtar and Kazimierz the Polish Ateliers for Conservation of Michałowski together decided to bring in Cultural Property (PPKZ S.A.) at the labs of (1968) the Polish Ateliers for the Conser- the National Museum in Alexandria. Al- vation of Cultural Property (PKZ). With ready this excellent example of Polish- specialized knowledge in their own fields, Egyptian cooperation has made it possible the architects, engineers and constructor to study the manuscripts even while the who now arrived in Deir el-Bahari con- treatment is ongoing. tributed substantially to the Egyptological There is hardly a mission without its studies being carried out on Hatshepsut’s own dedicated ghafir (guard) or rais (super- great enterprise. Blocks collected in the visor), much like the Rais from Edfu who was stores gradually found their way back to mentioned at the beginning. The ghafirs the Upper Terrace and the architectural and raises from Deir el-Bahari exemplify form of the building slowly took shape. this relation. The world’s best ghafir was The mission in this formation worked for our one-eyed Abu Kashur, who saw every- 20 years under the able leadership of Zyg- thing despite his handicap, and who was munt Wysocki. Following in its wake was an absolutely honest and dedicated to his Epigraphic Mission from the Centre (1989- work. Our longtime workers’ supervisor, 1992), directed by Janusz Karkowski. In Rais Bakhgad, lived next to the dighouse the next years (1993-1999), Franciszek and received a pension from the Centre Pawlicki (who was the Centre’s Secretary in even after he retired. The highly intelligent 1985-1995) put emphasis on restoration and versatile Rais Ragab Ahmed Yassin is an issues. From 1999 the scope of activities exceptional person. He has been with us for has been broadened to include also con- 25 years, having started out as a helper to servation work, as well as a broad range of his father, Ahmed Yassin Ahmed, who was Egyptological, archaeological and architec- also rais at Deir el-Bahari. Ragab’s sons, the tural studies. The Mission is now directed by third generation, also work with us some- Zbigniew E. Szafrański, since 2005 also Di- times. This friendship of many years has rector of the PCMA’s Cairo Branch.

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The PKZ activity in Deir el-Bahari re- program with the Egyptian authorities sulted in other restoration projects that Polish inviting the Preservation Mission to begin conservators undertook as part of the work (in 1989) on another great monument Centre’s program grounded in a bilateral of Islamic architecture, the adjacent complex cultural agreement signed between Poland of Sultan Inal. and Egypt. Gamal Eddin Mokhtar was Polish specialists arrived in pictur- instrumental in establishing these Polish- esque Ashmunein, the Greek Hermopolis, in Egyptian Preservation Missions in Deir 1987. A Christian basilica with granite el-Bahari and Cairo, and his successor colonnades was the object of studies and Ahmed Kadry in calling to life the missions provisional restoration by a team headed in Ashmunein and Marina el-Alamein. by Marek Barański. For two seasons (2004- The Cairo Preservation Mission 2005), at the invitation of SCA Secretary- (1972-2001) was charged with the restora- General Dr. Zahi Hawass, the Centre took tion of the early 16th century funerary com- up cooperation with Dr. Ahmed Sayed plex of Amir Qurqumas located in Cairo’s Shoaib, then General Director of Restoration, “Northern Necropolis” (cf. M. Witkowski, in on a project to conserve murals from one this volume). Of the various directors of this of the ancient structures in Tuna el-Gebel. mission, Jerzy Kania worked the longest, Thus have Polish specialists returned to devoting 20 years of his life to the project Middle Egypt, near to sites excavated and sacrificing his health in the process. eighty years earlier by Tadeusz Smoleński. The EAO’s role in helping to save Kania Egyptology cannot thrive without after a horrible road accident will not be international cooperation and we have forgotten. The Mosque of Qurqumas was subscribed to this idea right from the start also where our bonds of friendship with of Polish presence in Egypt. Occasionally, Dr. Methat Husein El Menabbawy grew it took on the shape of formal undertak- strong. This Egyptian archaeologist, Director ings, such as the participation of Polish spe- of the Islamic Department in the SCA, was cialists in the British-Polish-American invaluable when it came to ‘digging up’ Archaeological Expedition working on the the foundation act of the mosque from the island of Qasr Ibrim (1972-75). archives; moreover, there was no such con- In 1986, a Petroglyph Unit was servation material that he could not some- formed with the Dakhla Oasis Project di- how get his hands on. rected by Anthony J. Mills. For several seasons Today, “our” mosque stands out Lech Krzyżaniak (1940-2004) documented among the many buildings in Cairo’s City the rock art of the oasis and the Western of the Dead. The minaret is seen by all Desert. After Krzyżaniak’s death, the sur- those driving up Saleh Salem street in the vey was resumed by Michał Kobusiewicz, direction of the international airport. Stick- who has extended the scope of the project ing out from the windows on the highest to include Neolithic remains, primarily the floor are wooden poles that were used to North African Neolithic. hang up colorful lanterns. Two Polish-French undertakings have The success of the Qurqumas project progressed in cooperation with the IFAO: brought an extension of the restoration the Hathor Project Epigraphic Mission in the

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Hatshepsut complex in Deir el-Bahari, co- glyphs in Dakhla Oasis in the Western directed since 1992 by Nathalie Beaux- Desert. The next year in Marina el-Alamein Grimal and Janusz Karkowski, and the on the Mediterranean coast, Wiktor Andrzej Archaeological Mission in Dendera (1999- Daszewski (longtime Secretary of the Centre 2002), headed by Adam Łukaszewicz. Ex- and then its Director) saved an entire an- cavations at Dendera have uncovered a cient town from the bulldozers of building section of the town from the end of the contractors (cf. W.A. Daszewski, in this volume). First Intermediate Period and the beginnings Karol Myśliwiec cut the first test pits in of the Middle Kingdom, that is, close of the Saqqara, locating his excavations in the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. shadow of the oldest pyramid of the world. Recently (2007), a Polish-Slovakian Ar- Marek Barański re-erected the columns in chaeological Mission under the direction of the basilica at Ashmunein, and Jan Borkowski Sławomir Rzepka has started exploration of ran a conservation project on the mastaba Tell er-Retaba, a site at the exit of Wadi Tu- of prince Nefermaat in Meidum. Nefermaat milat, the “land of Goshen”, which accord- was a son of King Snofru of the Fourth Dy- ing to the Old Testament the pharaoh nasty and older(?) brother of Cheops. The gave to Joseph, his father and his brothers. idea originated with Dr. Ali el-Khouli, then The early 1980s were an important EAO Director for Middle Egypt and a great caesura in the history of the Polish Centre. advocate of our cause; his assistance is Prof. Kazimierz Michałowski died on 1 Janu- gratefully remembered. Dr. Gawdat Gabra, ary 1981. The first years of the decade General Director of the Department of save the introduction of martial law in Coptic Monuments in the EAO and Director Poland. Everywhere during this difficult of the Coptic Museum, generously sup- period we met with support and words of ported the Polish work in Naqlun and our solidarity on the part of Egyptologists in research on Egypt of the Byzantine age. Western Europe, Egypt and the United A Polish-Egyptian Preservation States. The Centre’s position in the schol- team shortly took up work in Marina arly world was strong and unquestioned. (1988); it was directed first by Włodzimierz The time had come to see how well we Bentkowski, then by Jarosław Dobrowolski, could live up to it. and most recently by Stanisław Medek- Cooperation with the Egyptian An- sza. At the invitation of Dr. Zahi Hawass, tiquities Organization, then presided over a complementary project for visiting the site by Dr. Ahmed Kadry, continued on a sound was prepared in 2006 together with basis. Michałowski’s students and followers guidelines for a site museum designed now came forward with their own ideas for by Rafał Czerner. Thus, Marina will shortly new research projects, broadening the Centre’s become a major tourist attraction on the program. In 1986, Włodzimierz Godlewski Mediterranean coast. opened excavations in Naqlun lying in Michałowski had wanted to dig in Fayum Oasis, identified by Ewa Wipszycka Saqqara from the start. He often repeated on the basis of written sources as Nekloni the archaeological adage that we should (cf. W. Godlewski, in this volume). Lech be digging in ancient capitals because we Krzyżaniak continued documenting petro- cannot afford to excavate other sites. His

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students, Michał Pietrzykowski and Karol This was the “Polish school of conservation”. Myśliwiec, drew up specific projects. Myśli- High-class specialists like Ewa Parandowska wiec directed the first campaign in 1987 (cf. have contributed enormously to the saving K. Myśliwiec, Saqqara, in this volume), but for of Egyptian monuments on a great number reasons beyond his control could not return of sites. Today, every archaeological mission to the field for the next nine years. Prof. working in Egypt has a conservator on the Abou Al-Youn Barakat proved to be a good team. friend in this situation and Dr. Nabil Swelim Many Polish conservators are active suggested the right moment to apply again with Egyptian and foreign missions, taking for a digging permit, granted by Prof. part in programs for saving the heritage of Abdel Halim Nur el-Din, then President of the ancient civilization on the Nile. Many the EAO. In 1996 the mission took to the Egyptian colleagues, too many to mention field and a mere year later the present here, have studied conservation and author had the opportunity, together with gained experience at Polish universities. Karol Myśliwiec, to crawl through a narrow Dr. Ahmed Sayed Shoaib still speaks Polish. hole near the ceiling into the tomb of the My friendship with Dr. Mohamed Abdel vizier Merefnebef of the early Sixth Dy- Hady, later Dean of the Conservation Fac- nasty, then still unknown to the world. ulty at Ain Shams University in Cairo, Crawl we did, because entering even on the started when he was settling in with his knees would have been an act of disrespect family in Warsaw. Dr. Saleh Ahmed Saleh, for the nobleman. Six years later Myśliwiec now head of the conservation department opened another unknown tomb belonging at Cairo University, is also remembered to the priest Nyankhnefertem from the same from his studies in Poland. Dynasty. More tombs of noblemen of the Our conservators had the knowledge Sixth Dynasty are waiting to be discov- and skills, but what distinguished them was ered in this veritable “Avenue of Notables” their inventiveness in difficult situations. One in Saqqara, as Myśliwiec once wrote. legendary solution were the steel tripods Whatever is uncovered needs to be that Wojciech Kołataj mounted on top of protected and returned to its original form. the Kom el-Dikka theater to raise shattered Conservation has always been an indis- granite columns, toppled either in earth- pensable part of the Polish effort. Great quakes or in effect of the passage of time. conservation and restoration challenges, There was no way that he could have used like the temples at Deir el-Bahari and heavy equipment in this and many other the urban complex in Alexandria, required reconstruction situations on Kom el-Dikka. a professional staff and appropriate tech- Instead, he set up ingenious tripod con- nologies. Both were available in a country structions made to order out of easily avail- recently destroyed by war where specialists able steel pipes, mounted a pulley and were trained, methods developed and ma- chains, and used the power of human mus- terials for conservation tested on a regular cles to lift the different pieces in place. It basis. Specialist conservation labs existed mattered not whether the fragment to be in Warsaw, Toruń and Kraków, and new raised weighed a few or a few dozen tons. centers were established in due course. His experience in the successful application

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of this method is unmatched. Moreover, were already a sensation, but nothing like many of the ancient buildings of Alexandria the most recent find of a deposit of 62 fig- have been protected and restored thanks urines carved from hippo tusks and two to the ingenuity of this longtime head of large figures of gold sheet on a presumably restoration works on Kom el-Dikka. wooden core. The objects from Farkha are SCA appeals to focus scholarly in- unparalleled among finds from Egypt of terest on the threatened regions of the Nile the period. Delta and Sinai raised a response from the Excavations and conservation work Polish Centre. In 1993, Wojciech Kołątaj, have been carried out since 2000 in the then the Centre’s architect, Grzegorz Majcherek Byzantine harbor town of Marea pic- and Dr. Mohamed Abd el-Moksoud (SCA), turesquely located on Lake Maryut. Under accompanied by the Centre’s photographer the direction of Hanna Szymańska, archae- Waldemar Jerke, undertook the documen- ologists have been bringing out of the salty tation of a Roman theater in Pelusium (Tell ground, one by one, buildings that testify Farama), a site located on the northwestern to the magnificence and importance of edge of the Sinai. In 2003, a regular Polish- this Christian city from an age when Islam Egyptian mission took up work on the site, was on the rise in Egypt (cf. H. Szymańska, initially headed by the Centre’s longtime K. Babraj, in this volume). director, Michał Gawlikowski, since 2006 Our concern for the fate of archae- by Krzysztof Jakubiak. The main objective ological sites in the Delta was expressed of the work in this famous town destroyed already in 1957 with the first excavations by time and recent military conflicts in the that the Centre undertook in Tell Atrib. The region was the protection of an ancient newest project started in 2007 in Tell er- theater. Probes dug in the town resulted in Retaba is the latest example of the Centre’s the unexpected discovery of a Late Roman involvement in saving the heritage of this mosaic which, after conservation, can now region. be seen on display in the museum in El-Arish From the start of Polish activity in on the Sinai. Egypt in the early 1960s, Polish specialists The last few seasons of fieldwork have been sought-after members of inter- at Tell el-Farkha in the eastern Delta have national projects. Conservator Józef Gazy, brought sensational results (cf. K.M. Ciałowicz already mentioned with regard to the Faras in this volume). The site is of particular im- operation, was invited to work in Meinarti portance for research on Predynastic and in Sudan. The SAE employed Polish archi- Early Dynastic Egypt in the second half of the tects Leszek Dąbrowski, Wojciech Kołątaj and 4th millennium BC. The discoveries have Antoni Ostrasz for their projects; Ostrasz demonstrated the position of the Delta in was later hired to work in Syria. Dąbrowski contacts with the Sinai, Palestine and Upper and Ostrasz supervised the dismantling Egypt, and its role in the emergence of the and reassembly of two Nubian temples in pharaoh’s state at the dawn of Egyptian Tafa and Dabod, both to be inundated by history. The oldest breweries discovered by the waters of the Aswan dam lake then Marek Chłodnicki and Krzysztof Ciałowicz, under construction. Many of the Centre’s who have headed the team since 1998, researchers are or have been members of

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foreign archaeological missions and many generosity and goodwill towards Poles in of the Centre’s missions have foreign spe- Egypt over the years. cialists on their teams. There can be no bet- The first time that Labib Habachi ter proof of the high skills and capabilities accompanied us was during the memorable of these specialists than their extensive par- reconnaissance in Egyptian Nubia in 1958. ticipation in international research projects. From then on we could always count on his For the past ten years Tomasz Herbich, well considered advice. When it came to who served as the Centre’s last Secretary, commemorate him, the plaque erected in and his assistants have joined in the work his final resting place in the courtyard of the of many Egyptian, Polish and foreign monastery of St Theodoros, lost out in the teams bringing in expertise in geophysical desert south of Thebes, was made by research. Herbich is one of the pioneers of Wincenty Surzyn from the Hatshepsut Tem- the method in Egypt. Indeed, geophysical ple mission. prospection is an example of broadly Polish-Egyptian cooperation tended understood international cooperation. to extend beyond the frame of archaeology The Centre has also benefited from alone. For many years Kazimierz Michałowski considerable assistance on the part of Egypt- served as Vice-President of the Polish-Arab ian Egyptologists, as much as the Egyptian Friendship Society. First Tadeusz Dzierżykray- authorities. We hold in grateful memory Rogalski and more recently Zbigniew E. successive SAE Presidents: Prof. Anwar Szafrański presided over the Polish-Egyptian Shoukry, Dr. Gamal Eddin Mokhtar (decorated Friendship Society. In one of his lectures, with the Commander’s Cross of Merit of the Michałowski recalled the discussions that Republic of Poland), Dr. Ahmed Kadry, accompanied the organization of the First Dr. Abdel Halim Nur el-Din, Dr. Gaballa Ali International Congress of Egyptologists. Gaballa (decorated with the Centre’s Medal), Many sites important for the history of and Dr. Zahi Hawass who is currently in of- Egyptology were then considered, but it was fice. Long is the list of Egyptian colleagues Cairo, which Michałowski proposed as the associated with the Centre. Let me mention most obvious solution, where it was finally a few of those who happened to share with held in 1976. His proposition was a natural us the hardships of work inside the hot expression of respect and gratitude to the walls of the temples at Deir el-Bahari: Prof. second home of all Egyptologists. The feel- Labib Habachi (1906-1984), Dr. Mohamed ing was mutual and in 2000, during the Eight Ali, who was later to become director of the International Congress of Egyptologists held Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and Dr. Abou again in Cairo, Michałowski was honored Al-Youn Barakat (1939-2002), then Chief posthumously with the medal “In Honor of Inspector of West Thebes and later a pro- Kazimierz Michałowski. In Memoriam”. fessor at the universities of Sohag and Michałowski’s legacy has been taken Alexandria . Abou was indeed a special up and extended. His contribution to world friend and the Commander’s Cross of Merit Egyptology is unquestioned, his achieve- of the Polish Republic that he received ments for Polish science extraordinary, his from the Polish authorities in 1989 was but influence on his students and followers un- a symbolic gesture of appreciation for his matched. The Centre in Cairo has helped to

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shape our view of the world, in the past as archives in Warsaw, the cars, equipment, much as in the present, and it has given computers and, personally detested, ac- each one of us a base from which to develop counting, the excavation documentation, re- our research activities. The Center is Egypt. ports and publications with deadlines that Its walls echo the great civilization of the are hard to meet. The soul on the other pharaohs, the rumble of Africa, the glory of hand is a being that sometimes requires a the Greeks and Romans, the illuminations whole life to be understood. of early and mature Christianity and the Profesor Michałowski can only be world of Islam. There is a long tradition be- commended for his astuteness in making hind it, a tradition that grows with every the Centre a purely scientific institute and passing year, turning the Centre into a time- keeping it out of any other spheres of activity. less value, overcoming differences of opin- The various ups and downs of recent history ions and contrary emotions. Indeed, the have borne out the wisdom of his vision. It is Center is as much an intellectual as a material one of the reasons behind the Centre’s success. value, it has both soul and body. The body However, with all humility he used to say, are the houses in Cairo, the offices, labs and onlookers get to see most of the game.

Select bibliography K. MICHAŁOWSKI, The Polish archaeological reconnaissance trip to Nubia, Review of the Polish Academy of Sciences VI/3,1959, pp. 47-85 K. MICHAŁOWSKI, Deir el-Bahari, in: The Frontiers of Human Knowledge. Acta Universitatis Uppsaliensis, Uppsala 1978, pp.163-169 W.A . DASZEWSKI, 50 years of Polish excavations in the Eastern Mediterranean, in: S. JAKOBIELSKI and J. KARKOWSKI (eds), 50 Years of Polish Excavations in Egypt and the Near East. Acts of the Symposium at Warsaw University 1986, Warsaw 1992, pp. 39-47 M. GAWLIKOWSKI, Kazimierz Michałowski and his school, in: Z.E. SZAFRAŃSKI (ed.), Queen Hatshepsut and her temple 3500 years later, Warsaw 2001, pp.17-37 Z.E. SZAFRAŃSKI, Polish archaeologists in Egypt, in: Polish Egyptian Review (Bulletin of the Polish-Egyptian Friendship Society), no. 1, Warsaw 2003, pp.12-14

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Jan Ciągliński (1858-1913). Avenue of sphinxes leading from the temple of Amun-Re in Karnak in the direction of Deir el-Bahari MNW 180107 (deposit of the National Museum in Warsaw at the Cairo branch of the Polish Centre) Kazimierz Michałowski and Henri Chevrier, (Photographic copy M. Jawornicki) head of the French Mission in Karnak, 1930s (University of Warsaw Museum Archives) Szafa ksiazka wstep:Layout 1 2007-09-19 10:46 Page 58

Kazimierz Michałowski with students from the University of Alexandria visiting Edfu, 1958 (PCMA Archives) Egyptian inspectors visiting the Polish excavations in Tell Atrib, 1959 (Research Center for Mediterranean Archaeology PAN Archives) Szafa ksiazka wstep:Layout 1 2007-09-19 10:46 Page 59

Alexandria, 2 December 1964. Kazimierz Michałowski with the Governor of Alexandria and Minister Sawi during a conference on Kom el-Dikka, deciding the future shape of the envisaged “zona monumentale”) Alexandria, 2 December 1964. Participants (Research Center for Mediterranean Archaeology of the conference on Kom el-Dikka filing PAN Archives) down into the area of the theater excavations ( Research Center for Mediterranean Archaeology PAN Archives) Szafa ksiazka wstep:Layout 1 2007-09-19 10:46 Page 60

Alexandria. The uncovered ruins of the theater building, 1965 (Research Center for Mediterranean Archaeology PAN Archives)

Marek Marciniak at work in the temple in Dabod, 1960/61 (PCMA Archives) Szafa ksiazka wstep:Layout 1 2007-09-19 10:47 Page 61

Kazimierz Michałowski with Jaroslav Černy, Tadeusz Andrzejewski and journalist Zofia Jeżewska in front of the Great Temple in Abu Simbel, 1958 (Research Center for Mediterranean Archaeology PAN Archives)

Rais Bakhgad (PCMA Archives) Szafa ksiazka wstep:Layout 1 2007-09-19 10:47 Page 62

Corridor of the tomb of Ramesses III in Valley of the Kings (Photo Z. Doliński)

Funerary complex of Sultan Qurqumas before protection and conservation work by a Polish- Egyptian team, mid 1980s, as seen from Sultan al-Ashraf Inal surroundings (PCMA Archives) Szafa ksiazka wstep:Layout 1 2007-09-19 10:47 Page 63

Saqqara, 1970s. Kazimierz Michałowski in discussion with Geoffrey J. Martin, head of the British Mission in Saqqara (Photo Z. Doliński)

Gamal Eddin Mokhtar and Ahmed Kadry during the decoration ceremony at the Polish Embassy in Cairo in 1986 (PCMA Archives) Szafa ksiazka wstep:Layout 1 2007-09-19 10:47 Page 64

Abou Al-Youn Barakat, then inspector at Deir el-Bahari in the late 1960s (PCMA Archives) Enjoying the view from the terrace of Metropolitan House in Deir el-Bahari. First from right, Labib Habachi, next to him, Kazimierz Michałowski (PCMA Archives)