Kazimierz Michałowski

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 school of Mediterranean archaeology and a precursor of Nubiology.

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.

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".

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.

On his initiative in 1936 archaeological works were started in Edfu and lasted till 1939.

The expedition was accompanied by archaeologists from the University of Warsaw and the French Institute for Eastern Archaeology.

These were the first excavations with participation of Polish archaeologists in the Mediterranean area.

The works were performed on the pharaohs’ necropolis as well as in the ancient city of the Greek-Roman and Byzantian period.

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.

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).

He was a member of several national and foreign academies, scientific associations and institutes: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, British Academy, Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig; Presidium of the Committee of Ancient Culture Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Committee of Oriental Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Archaeological Institute of America, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Institut d'Egypte, Polish Archaeological Association (chairperson 1953 – 1957 and honorary member), Society for Nubian Studies (chairperson since 1972), Association Internationale des Égyptologues (deputy chairperson of the Honorary Committee since 1976), Association Internationale d'Epigraphie Latine (sdeputy chairperson), Warsaw Scientific Society (secretary general 1949–1952), Association Internationale d'Archéologie Classique, Société Archéologique Grecque, Association of Art Historians; member of École Française d'Athènes.

In 1956 he established the Research Centre for Mediterranean Archaeology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, which he headed.

We was a visiting professor in Alexandria (1957-1958) and Aberdeen (1971).

He translated and published W.H. Boulton's The Romance of Archaeology (1958) as well as publicising the results of excavation works in Edfu.

He wrote for “Stolica”, touching on subjects pertaining to ancient artefacts in the holdings of the National Museum in Warsaw.

He gave numerous lectures and conducted seminars devoted to antiquity, whose social effect consisted of an impressive increase of interest in this discipline.

5000 students attended his public lecture on the art of ancient Egypt in the National Museum in Warsaw in 1957.

The grandfather of Kazimierz Michałowski was Emil Michałowski, a representative to the Diet of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria and a director of the Teacher's University in Tarnopol as well as the mayor of this town.

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.

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).

He was awarded an Honoris Causa Doctorate at the universities of Strasbourg (1965), Cambridge (1971), Uppsala (1977).

Kazimierz Michałowski was an active promoter of Mediterranean 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.