On 7th–8th June 2022 the Scientific Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences hosted a conference, co-organised by the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences, entitled “Polish-French Co-operation in the Domain of Egyptology”. Mutual relations between the Polish and French Egyptologists date back to the very origins of the discipline as attested by the cordial letters exchanged between Jean-François Champollion, who deciphered the hieroglyphic script in 1822, and Stanisław Szczęsny Kossakowski. The co-operation between Polish and French Egyptologists found its climax, however, in the 20th century, starting with the joint archaeological excavations at Edfu in 1936–1939. It was the invaluable support of the French colleagues which enabled the scholars based at the Centre for Mediterranean Archaeology of the Polish Academy of Sciences founded by Kazimierz Michałowski in 1956 (whose successor is the present Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences) to arise in the international scholarly community. The conference was a chance to recall the fruitful co-operation in the past and to restore and strengthen the scholarly relations for future as well as to honour the special anniversaries that the scholarly community celebrates in 2022: the bicentenary of the decipherment of the hieroglyphs by Jean-François Champollion, the centenary of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings by Howard Carter (financed by the earl of Carnarvon), and the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The ample conference programme perfectly reflects the diversity of Egyptological research: starting with the nature of the hieroglyphic script and the history of its decipherment, through the results of the field work (including archaeological excavations as well as epigraphic and pottery analyses) up to the history of the discipline and the phenomenon of Egyptomania––all the presentations have demonstrated how important international co-operation is for the present-day Egyptology.
Organising Committee:
- Filip Taterka (Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences)
- Szymon Trzybiński (Polish Academy of Sciences – Scientific Centre in Paris)
- Date of the conference: 7-8 June 2022
- Place of the conference: Polish Academy of Sciences – Scientific Centre in Paris
- Language of the conference: French
