Казимеж Михаловский: Жизнь и вклад польского египтолога и археолога.

Polish archaeologist and Egyptologist

Kazimierz Józef Marian Michałowski (December 14, 1901, in Tarnopol – January 1, 1981, in Warsaw) was a Polish archaeologist and Egyptologist, art historian, member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, professor ordinarius of the University of Warsaw as well as the founder of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology. He coined the term "Nubiology" to refer to the study of ancient Nubia.

Kazimierz Michałowski graduated from a gymnasium in Tarnopol and then studied classical archaeology and art history at the Philosophy Department of the Jan Kazimierz University in Lwów; he also attended philosophy lectures by Professor Kazimierz Twardowski. He broadened his knowledge at universities in Berlin, Heidelberg, Paris, Rome and Athens. As a young scientist he took part in excavations managed by École Française d`Athènes in Delphi, Thasos and Delos. In 1926 he defended his doctoral thesis devoted to Niobids in Greek art, which he prepared at the University of Lwów under the scientific supervision of Edmund Bulanda and which was published a year later in French. In 1931 he won his habilitation based on a dissertation about Hellenistic and Roman portraits from Delos, published next year in Paris. Immediately after habilitation he was delegated to the University of Warsaw, where in 1931 he established a Department of Classical Archaeology, in 1953 transformed into Mediterranean Archaeology Department, which he headed until his retirement in 1972. In 1936 on his initiative Polish archaeologists from the University of Warsaw started archaeological works in Edfu in Egypt.

During the war he was imprisoned in the German prisoner of war camp Oflag II C Woldenburg, where he was sent as a reserve officer and a soldier of the September campaign. In the camp, Michałowski organised educational activities for prisoners, conducted seminars and gave lectures on Egyptology and archaeology. In 1978 he reported that no one who had studied Egyptology in the prisoner of war camp had taken it up post war as a discipline.

After World War II Michałowski took active part in the reconstruction of Polish culture and science. Since 1939 he had been a deputy director of the National Museum in Warsaw, initially responsible for organisation of the Gallery of Ancient Art opened to the public in 1949, and next for the Faras Gallery, which was opened in 1972. He organised numerous exhibitions displaying historical objects obtained during excavations he headed. In 1945 1947 he was a Dean of the Department of Humanities of the University of Warsaw and later a pro rector of this same university (1947 – 1948). We was a visiting professor in Alexandria (1957 1958) and Aberdeen (1971). In 1956 he established the Research Centre for Mediterranean Archaeology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, which he headed. In 1960 he organised an opening of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw with quarters in Cairo, which he headed until his death. He regarded the opening of this facility as his greatest achievement. He chaired Comité International des Experts pour le Sauvetage des Temples d'Abou Simbel UNESCO (1961 1970), Comité International pour les Musées d'Archéologie et d'Histoire ICOM (1965 1971) He was an expert of UNESCO pour les Musées et Fouilles Archéologiques d'Algérie (1966) as well as a member of Comité des Experts de l'UNESCO pour Mohendjo Daro (1969). After World War II Michałowski married Krystyna Baniewicz, a daughter of Tadeusz Baniewicz, one of the founders of Podkowa Leśna. Krystyna Michałowska became engaged in her husband's activity – in later years the Baniewicz's villa in Podkowa Leśna was the seat of the Research Centre for Mediterranean Archeology Polish Academy of Science. Professor Michałowski's grave is located in a nearby cemetery in Brwinów.

Professor Michałowski conducted excavations in Egypt since the 1930s, and from 1959 on behalf of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archeology of the University of Warsaw, of which he was the founder and first director.

According to Professor Michałowski "not only in the view of the scientific world but also in a broader opinion of a civilised society, the current cultural level of a given country is judged based on whether it has its own excavations in Egypt". The number and artistic quality of historical monuments obtained during the first campaign (1936) enabled the organisation of an exhibition in the Gallery of Ancient Art in the National Museum in Warsaw, which was opened already in June 1937.

Polish archaeologists’ participation in the excavations in Edfu turned the interest of the world of science to the Polish scholars and provided an opportunity for commencement of further excavations abroad. Michałowski started collaboration with Soviet archaeologists in Crimea. In July 1956 a group of Polish archaeologists started exploration works in Myrmekion, an ancient Greek colony, which continued till 1958. The works were not performed jointly as in the case of the Polish French expedition in Edfu. The researchers worked in two separate teams, exploring two sections. The Polish group was headed by Professor Michałowski while the Soviet one – by Professor W. F. Gajdukiewicz from the Leningrad State University. A wine press with complete equipment from the Hellenistic period was discovered as well as fragments of residential buildings. Polish archaeologists comprised the first foreign mission which managed to obtain a permit for exploration of Alexandria. Groups of Italian, English and German scientists worked for the Greek Roman Museum in Alexandria or they represented it. It is difficult to work on this area since in the 1740s Muhammad Ali mandated that a city be constructed here. The relics of the past remain hidden under a modern development. Monumental Roman baths with numerous swimming pools and cisterns as well as a Roman villa were discovered there. Polish archaeologists revealed also the first theatre to have been discovered in Egypt. This discovery was so sensational that Professor Michałowski received additional funds from the municipal authorities, enabling continuation of works. The ancient theatre was fully revealed and reconstructed. Today it is one of the greatest attractions in Alexandria and is used to stage performances. This is how an ancient building was successfully preserved in a contemporary development. Polish archaeologists explored also two Arabic necropolises on the area of Kom el Dikka.

The works were started in 1961 on the request of the Egyptian minister of culture who was determined to reconstruct the temple of Queen Hatshepsut. In 1968 engineers from the State Studios for Conservation of Cultural Property joined archaeologists to perform construction restoration works in this temple. When working on this commission Professor Michałowski discovered a previously unknown funerary temple of Thutmose III (already during the first campaign). In consequence most of exploration works were moved to this site. The temple was unique due to its location and layout which differed from other sacral buildings of the New Kingdom period. The works are continued to this day.

Faras, ancient Pachoras, was a capital city of the Northern Nubian kingdom. In 1961–1964 rescue excavations were performed there, headed by Professor Michałowski. The exploration was part of a larger project, named the Nubian Campaign, managed under the auspices of UNESCO, whose objective was to salvage historical artefacts from flooding by the Nile in connection to the Aswan High Dam development. Ruins of a medieval cathedral church of the bishops of Pachoras were discovered along with religious paintings dating back to the 7th – 13th century. A set of the so called "frescos from Faras" (actually they are not frescos but paintings executed with tempera paint on dry plaster) comprising more than 150 paintings became one of the greatest and most interesting discoveries of the Nubian Campaign. 67 paintings and fragments of stone decoration from the cathedral as well as other churches and buildings in Faras, epitaphs of local bishops and chaplains and local, artisanal products including pottery are stored in the Faras Gallery in Honour of Professor Kazimierz Michałowski in the National Museum in Warsaw. Remaining historical objects discovered in Faras are contained within the holdings of the National Museum of Sudan in Khartoum.

Professor Michałowski started excavations in Old Dongola in 1964. Since 1966 the works were headed by Stefan Jakobielski. Kings of the joined Nubian kingdoms resided in the Dongola from the 8th to the early 13th century. A central nave of the church with columns preserved in situ was discovered already in the first weeks of the works. Scientific writing refers to this discovery as the "church of the columns". Grave inscriptions found in the church suggested it dated back to the 2nd half of the 8th century. In 2001 Polish Post issued 200 thousand copies of a postcard dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Professor Michałowski's birthday. The postcard presented a nave of the Faras Cathedral and the portrait of Professor Michałowski himself. The bust of Professor Michałowski is exhibited in the gardens of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo and numerous souvenirs related to Professor are stored in the holdings of the Museum of Warsaw University. The Professor's name was also given to streets in Częstochowa, Malbork and Słupsk. In 2015 Public Middle School in Podkowa Leśna was named after Professor Michałowski.

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