Polish Archaeological Institute at Athens

02/11/2026

🟢 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗗?
🔵Was Modernism's famous mantra, "Less is More", really an original invention of the 20th century? Not quite. It may well be the artistic idea that has stretched across the widest gap in history - some four and a half thousand years.

🔵 At the turn of the 20th century, European artists began looking beyond the academic ideal for inspiration: to African, Oceanic, Iberian and prehistoric art. Among their greatest discoveries were the marble figurines from the Cycladic Islands in the Aegean. Constantin Brancusi pursued the essence of form through Cycladic simplicity. Amedeo Modigliani elongated necks and adopted proportions strikingly close to those of Cycladic figures. Alberto Giacometti stripped the human figure down until it became almost a sign.

🔵 A symbolic head, an absence of detail, arms folded across the abdomen, the body reduced to pure geometry. This is what the so-called "idols" carved in the Cyclades around 2800–2300 BC looked like - long before not only Greek Classicism, but, above all, European Modernism. The islanders reduced form to its essentials, emphasised mass rather than imitating nature, and placed rhythm and symmetry above storytelling. Without ever knowing it, Cycladic craftsmen created what would later become icons of Modernism.

👉 There is, however, one intriguing secret...
The "Minimalist" in the photograph was never as austere as it appears today. Traces of pigment still survive on these figurines. Their eyes, lips and hair were painted, as were patterns across their bodies. Yet it is the "pure", colourless version - faded by millennia - that we fell in love with.

01/11/2026

🔵 The second symposium in the 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗦𝗲𝗮 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘀 series is just around the corner!
🔵 On 18–19 November, we will meet at the PAIA headquarters in Athens to discuss 𝗕𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗦𝗲𝗮. The symposium will focus on communities that built burial mounds in the Black Sea region between the 4th and 1st millennia BC.

🔵 The Black Sea Symposium showcases archaeological research conducted with the participation of Polish academic institutions and their international partners.
We warmly invite you to join the open session on 18 November, from 10:00 to 15:15 Athens time, either at the PAIA headquarters or online. All presentations will be delivered in English.
🔵 To attend in person, please register by emailing . To participate online, please register at .

Further information, the full symposium programme and abstracts of the presentations can be found in the brochure available on our website: https://paia.amu.edu.pl/en/invitation-to-the-barrow-communities-around-the-black-sea-symposium/

🔵 The symposium is organised in cooperation with the Archaeological Museum in Poznań, Poland.

31/10/2026

🟣 A candle for Hades? The ancient Greeks would have been surprised!

The first days of November have their own unmistakable ritual in Poland: traffic jams around cemeteries, armfuls of chrysanthemums and thousands of flickering lights illuminating gravestones. One might think Poland is rich not only in coal and salt mines, but also in candle... mines. That is our All Saints Day!

🟣 Yet this tradition has ancient parallels. Two and a half thousand years ago, Greeks also visited graves, brought offerings and believed that the bond between the living and the dead did not end with death. Remembrance did not end with the funeral.
🟣 We light candles, bring flowers, tend graves and remember those who are no longer with us. The Greeks also left offerings and erected inscribed monuments to preserve the memory of the departed. In both cultures, a simple gesture expresses a deeply human belief: the dead retain their place in the lives of the living.
Would an ancient Greek recognise a Polish cemetery? Probably. Electric candles, plastic wreaths and traffic jams might surprise him, but visiting a grave and bringing a gift certainly would not.

🟣 Gods and rituals change. The human need to remember those we have lost remains remarkably constant.

31/10/2026

🟢 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗗?
🔵 In April 1941, German troops entered Athens. Their first port of call was the National Archaeological Museum, which, to their surprise, turned out to be... empty. There was not a trace of the thousands of priceless artefacts that had once filled its galleries. What had happened to them? And what had saved them? You can find out in the attached article.
https://www.lifo.gr/culture/arxaiologia/ta-thammena-agalmata-toy-polemoy-0?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAcGRvZgNzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8yNzUyNTQ2OTI1OTgyNzkAAR8OLQdWv0I2wpGSqk18yX_X8pqz9xSeAW6XO1k-QYwnWkTagWCjUJaEN28G1w_aem_RQT6yRaDxLzHdNsInm0mVg

Επί έξι μήνες πριν από την εισβολή των Γερμανών μια ομάδα από εργάτες και αρχαιολόγους έσκαβε τα δάπεδα του Εθνικού Αρχαιολογικού Μουσείου για να θάψει εκεί ό,τι πο...

28/10/2026

🔵 It is hard to disagree with our Greek friends that Greece has the most beautiful summers. Not too hot, you know, just around 40°C, with winds strong enough to blow your head off…
🟠 But the most beautiful autumns are to be found in Poland. Not too cold, of course, just around 3-5°C, with a nice, cold drizzle.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝘀: autumn in the , where you can still pick olives straight from the tree (though eating them is another matter), and in central , which suddenly changes colour.

28/10/2026

🔵 On 28 October, Greece celebrates Ochi Day. We send our warmest wishes to our Greek friends, colleagues and partners. Thank you for your hospitality and for the opportunity to work together in the field of science.

👉 On 28 October 1940, Benito Mussolini issued an ultimatum to Greece's Prime Minister, Ioannis Metaxas, demanding permission for Italian troops to enter Greece and occupy strategic locations across the country. Metaxas rejected the demands with a single word: "Ochi!" (No!). Italy invaded Greece that same day, and Greece subsequently joined the Allied side.

🔵 "Ochi" became a symbol of Greek patriotism, courage and resistance to aggression.

***Please note that, due to today's public holiday, the PAIA office will be closed on Wednesday.

#28Οκτωβρίου

27/10/2026

🟡 𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘
🔴 If you're going to celebrate an anniversary, you might as well do it in style. 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗜𝘁𝘀 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲𝘀.

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań has acquired additional premises to expand the facilities of the Polish Archaeological Institute at Athens and improve its operational capacity.

The transaction was signed on behalf of AMU's Rector by the university Chancellor, Marcin Wysocki, at a notary office in Athens.
The newly acquired space will provide PAIA with a conference room accommodating up to 50 people for lectures and cultural events, as well as dedicated workspaces for visiting archaeologists.
Until now, the Institute's activities have been conducted in a single, small room serving simultaneously as an office, library and conference venue. The expansion will significantly improve the working environment, enable the Institute to host a wider range of academic and cultural events, and provide better facilities for visiting researchers.

Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań

27/10/2026

🔴 Five years ago, on 26 October 2021, we officially opened the Polish Archaeological Institute at Athens (PAIA) at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens!

Since then, we have launched six research projects in Greece, published four volumes of our Reports and held five Annual Meetings. How many open lectures and meetings have we held? That is exactly what we're trying to count.

🔴 Thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey. We're just getting started! 🥂

24/10/2026

🟢 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗞𝗘𝗡𝗗
🔵 In Greece, the wind has a name. And more than one face. For Poles, the weather forecast can be fairly straightforward: either the wind is blowing, or it isn't. For the Greeks, wind is a true source of wonder. And it has been ever since antiquity, when every self-respecting gust had a name of its own, a personality and, sometimes, a rather frightening appearance. Kaikias came from the north-east, Boreas commanded the cold, fierce north wind, and Skiron swept in from the north-west. Apeliotes blew from the east, while Zephyrus came from the west. The latter was a true gentleman among winds: gentle, warm and soothing. He was imagined as a youthful figure surrounded by flowers and nymphs.
🔵 Euros, blowing from the south-east, had a far less enviable reputation. He brought rain, storms and trouble for sailors. Notus ruled the south wind, on which agricultural harvests partly depended. Presiding over them all was Aeolus, ruler of the winds, who even helped Odysseus on his journey back to Ithaca.
So, what winds blow in Greece today?

🔵 In the north of the country, the Vardaris is well known: a cold, powerful wind particularly noticeable around Thessaloniki. It can give the area a thorough airing, and the Greeks say it clears the air. You just have to survive a walk into it first. When the air suddenly turns hazy, the culprit may be the sirocco. This warm south-easterly wind can carry fine sand all the way from the Sahara, reminding us that Greece is closer to Africa than a day on the beach might suggest. The ostria is the traditional name for a southerly wind, while the maistros is a north-westerly wind that sets the summer rhythm on the Ionian Sea. Sailors appreciate its regularity: it usually picks up in the early afternoon and dies down around sunset. You can almost set your watch by it.
🔵 The Aegean, however, belongs to the meltemi - a dry, seasonal northerly wind that can really show its teeth, particularly in July and August. It offers welcome relief from the heat, but at sea it is not always a welcome guest. It whips up high waves and can turn an innocent island-hopping trip into a serious test of character. The Cyclades bear the brunt of it, although it also blows across other parts of the Aegean.
🔵 On the Peloponnese and Crete, you may hear the name tramountana, referring to a strong northerly wind. The south-westerly garbis also demands caution: it can bring sudden gusts and short, uncomfortable waves close to shore. Meanwhile, levantes and pounentes refer to easterly and westerly winds respectively — useful terms when manoeuvring in harbours or anchoring in narrow bays.



Pictured:

1. The Eight Winds (1965, 181 × 125 cm) by Yannis Tsarouchis (1910–1989). The arrangement of the figures and their attributes directly echoes the ancient reliefs on the Tower of the Winds in Athens.
2. A poem by Odysseas Elytis (1911–1996) from his collection Axion Esti, translated by Edmund Keeley and George Savidis, in which the poet weaves in the names of the Greek winds.
3. Ahens, Tower of the Winds. Relief of the wind god Boreas (CC BY-SA 4.0/G.E. Koronaios)

22/10/2026

⏺︎ 𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘
⏺︎ 19/10/2026 | 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘀.

⏺︎ Polish historians were among the leading voices at an international conference on the Second World War, held at the Athens War Museum and bringing together experts from across Europe to explore the conflict from different national and institutional perspectives. The Polish Archaeological Institute at Athens (PAIA) was represented by its Deputy Director, Professor Ewdoksia Papuci-Władyka.

⏺︎ The conference "Second World War. One War, Different Perspectives" was organised by the Athens War Museum in cooperation with the Imperial War Museum in London, the Katyn Museum in Warsaw, the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, the Polish Army Museum, the Czech Military History Institute, the Dutch National Military Museum and the Foundation of the Royal Netherlands Army Museum.

⏺︎ Three of the seven papers presented at the conference were delivered by Polish scholars: Bartłomiej Bydoń of the Katyn Museum, and Monika Krzencessa-Ropiak and Jan Szkudliński of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk. The conference was chaired by Dr Efpraxia Paschalidou, Director of the Historical Archives Department.

⏺︎ The proceedings opened with a welcome address by Lieutenant General Konstantinos Karamesinis, President of the Board of Directors of the Athens War Museum. Nikos Dendias, the Greek Minister of National Defence then addressed the audience, emphasising in particular the importance of museums passing on knowledge of past conflicts and wars to younger generations.
The conference was accompanied by an exhibition of documents and a series of photographic exhibitions.

Evdoxia Papuci-Wladyka