Starożytny Egipt w świadomości historycznej Polaków

Abstract

The article is a diachronic study focusing on the presence of Ancient Egyptian culture in the humanistic consciousness of Poles, beginning with the reports of the first travelers from the beginning of the 16th century, through art collectors’ activities in 18th-19th centuries, literary works inspired by Egyptian history and culture, the first Polish Egyptologists, and subsequently the creation of the renowned “Polish school of Mediterranean archaeology” founded by Professor Kazimierz Michałowski nearly eighty years ago. The “Polish school” has continued to enlarge its fields of scientific interest even after its founder had passed away in 1981. Among the most important recent discoveries made by Polish Egyptologists and archaeologists in the Nile Valley (both in Egypt and in Sudan) are also structures and artifacts from the earliest periods of Egyptian history, the Archaic Period and the Old Kingdom (3rd millennium B.C.). What particularly inspires the activity of the Poles in the field of Egyptology is the feeling that Ancient Egyptian culture is part of their own identity.