Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (11.1999(2000))

DENDERA

EGYPT

FRENCH-POLISH EXCAVATIONS IN THE PAST

In October 1996, a Polish-French sympo-
sium, organized at the initiative of the
Polish Center of Archaeology of Warsaw
University to commemorate the sixtieth
anniversary of the beginning of French-
Polish excavations at Edfu in Upper Egypt,
was held in Cairo. Back then, in 1936
through 1939, the excavations were being
carried out on the site of the Graeco-
Roman town of Apollinopolis Magna. The
outcome of three seasons of concentrated
effort (unfortunately, interrupted by the
outbreak of the second world war) was
impressive, in terms of the objects of Old
Egyptian art, as well as the documentary
evidence, like papyri, ostraca and inscrip-
tions, that were unearthed.

The French side was represented by Prof.
Bernard Bruyere, who headed the expedition
in 1937, Jean Sainte Fare Garnot and others;
on the Polish side there was Prof. Kazimierz
Michalowski, who took over from Bruyere
for the 1938 and 1939 seasons, papyrologist
Prof. Jerzy Manteuffel and anthropologist
Dr. Stanislaw Zejmo-Zejmis.
While the Edfu site is no longer avail-
able for archaeological explorations, the
modern city having engulfed it complete-
ly, the idea of common excavations has
been revived thanks to the cooperation of
the directors of the two archaeological
institutes - Nicolas Grimal of the IFAO
and Michal Gawlikowski of the Polish
Center of Archaeology.


Fig. 1. View of the site
(Photo © A. Lukaszewicz)

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