Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

OBITUARY

conspiracy during World War II. By the same method of secret education she studied Classical philol-
ogy with Kazimierz Kumaniecki at the University of Warsaw, being at the same time involved in the
underground resistance movement. She was active in the Polish scouts movement and in 1942 was
appointed to the Command Headquarters of the Home Army. She fought in the Warsaw Uprising of
1944· After the fall of the rising, as a second lieutenant, she ended up first in the Lambinowice and
then Zeithain Nazi prison camps.
Returning to Warsaw in 1945, she took up her studies and was employed at the National
Museum in Warsaw. She suffered brief imprisonment and interrogation by the communist secret
police, but was ultimately released. She worked for the Ancient Art Department of the Museum until
1957, at the same time completing archaeological studies under Prof. Kazimierz Michalowski.
Interested in ancient glass, she published in 1952 a fundamental catalogue of ancient glass and a few
years later, another book on glass ornaments. This chapter in her life ended in 1961 when she earned
her doctoral degree.
Two years earlier, in 1959, she had already embarked on another stage in her interests and
research. It was then that her adventure with Palmyra in Syria began and she participated in four
excavation seasons, the last one in 1962. Her encounter with Syria was crowned with a four-month
scholarship in Palmyra in 1963· Prom 1964 she no longer could come, having been refused a pass-
port by the communist secret police. Even so, she remained faithful to her interests in Palmyra all her
life, embarking on a study of the architectural decoration of Palmyra, which she published as her
habilitation in 1967. And for a long time after that the workers would call female members of the
Polish archaeological expedition in Palmyra by her name and the older workers would ask about her.
She had proved herself an excellent field archaeologist with authority and popularity among the local
workers.
In 1957 she left her job at the National Museum to join the Research Center for Mediterranean
Archaeology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. There she worked until 1969 when she transferred to
the Catholic University in Lublin, once again re-directing her research interests, this time to Late
Antique art and architecture. Lecturing in Lublin and for the last years also at the Academy of
Catholic Theology in Warsaw, she educated many students and passed on to them her deep interest in
the study of Christian Antiquity.
Ably managing a professional and family life, she brought up her brood of girls and always had
time for everything. Nights and a mug of strong tea were for her own studies. She was honored with
the “Ecclesiae populoque servitium praestanti” gold medal for science, awarded by the Polish Primate.
For her involvement in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 she received a Cross of Valor.
She will remain in our memories a cheerful and trusting person, generous and ready to help.
Maria Krogulska

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