Exposition « Fouilles égyptiennes » au Musée National de Varsovie, 1937

The University of Warsaw started the Polish-French excavations in Edfu (Egypt) under the agreement concluded in 1936 with the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo. The numerous artifacts found during the first archaeological season at the site in 1937 were split between Egypt, France and Poland, while the last received the highest proportion of the findings (c. 2000 objects). After being transported to the National Museum in Warsaw the most interesting artifacts from Edfu were presented on an exhibition opened the same year. The exhibition attracted c. 60 thousand visitors within two months. As a result, the Gallery of Ancient Art – the first permanent exhibition of the heritage of ancient civilizations in Poland – was created in 1938. The Gallery was housed in the newly opened building of the National Museum in Warsaw. Professor Kazimierz Michałowski, one of the members of the archaeological team working in Edfu and the creator of the ‘Polish school of the Mediterranean archaeology’, was appointed its first curator.