DOI Artikel:
Lipińska, Jadwiga: Kazimierz Michałowski: 14.12.1901-01.01.1981
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18950#0015
Invited to join the “rescuers”, after studying the archaeological maps and
reports, he chose a smali village on the western side of the Nile, close to the
Egyptian-Sudanese border. From previous excavations there, conducted by a
British team over thirty years earlier, it was known to have been an important
centre in both Antiąuity and early Christian times.
The choice turned out to be prize-winning. Inside a sandy hill with the
remains of an Arab fortress and a Coptic monastery on top, an early Christian
Cathedral dating from the 8th to the 13th centuries AD was discovered in 1961,
after only two weeks of the digging of a trial trench. It took three morę seasons
to elear the building, which was preserved to the roof, and to remove the
murals covering its walls, all this time under the pressure of the oncoming
flood. The method of saving the paintings had to be newly invented, as nobody
had attempted such a task before. Some murals had occasionally been
discovered before in the Nubian churches, but nobody had attempted to save
them. This time it was different: the restorers from the National Museum in
Warsaw accomplished the task, and all together 120 priceless wali paintings
were recovered. Half of them, not without some objections from Sudanese
officials and envious colleagues, were assigned to Poland. They are presented
in a special Faras Gallery, uniąue in Europę. The other half is kept at the
National Museum in Khartoum.
Kazimierz Michałowski worked as a deputy director of the National
Museum in Warsaw for over 40 years, till his last days. He left a lasting
testimony of his achievements. He summed it up best with his own words:
“Now, the source of my immense satisfaction is the conviction, that I gained for
Poland antiąuities, which - not even mentioning their uniąue historie value -
can be estimated, according to the average prices on the art market, as
exceeding many times all the sums I ever received from Poland for carrying out
the excavations abroad.”6
Linguistic consultation - Michał Murawski
6 Michałowski, op. cit., p. 104-105.
reports, he chose a smali village on the western side of the Nile, close to the
Egyptian-Sudanese border. From previous excavations there, conducted by a
British team over thirty years earlier, it was known to have been an important
centre in both Antiąuity and early Christian times.
The choice turned out to be prize-winning. Inside a sandy hill with the
remains of an Arab fortress and a Coptic monastery on top, an early Christian
Cathedral dating from the 8th to the 13th centuries AD was discovered in 1961,
after only two weeks of the digging of a trial trench. It took three morę seasons
to elear the building, which was preserved to the roof, and to remove the
murals covering its walls, all this time under the pressure of the oncoming
flood. The method of saving the paintings had to be newly invented, as nobody
had attempted such a task before. Some murals had occasionally been
discovered before in the Nubian churches, but nobody had attempted to save
them. This time it was different: the restorers from the National Museum in
Warsaw accomplished the task, and all together 120 priceless wali paintings
were recovered. Half of them, not without some objections from Sudanese
officials and envious colleagues, were assigned to Poland. They are presented
in a special Faras Gallery, uniąue in Europę. The other half is kept at the
National Museum in Khartoum.
Kazimierz Michałowski worked as a deputy director of the National
Museum in Warsaw for over 40 years, till his last days. He left a lasting
testimony of his achievements. He summed it up best with his own words:
“Now, the source of my immense satisfaction is the conviction, that I gained for
Poland antiąuities, which - not even mentioning their uniąue historie value -
can be estimated, according to the average prices on the art market, as
exceeding many times all the sums I ever received from Poland for carrying out
the excavations abroad.”6
Linguistic consultation - Michał Murawski
6 Michałowski, op. cit., p. 104-105.