Kazimierz Michałowski (1901-1981) became a legend of world archaeology. He discovered Egypt for generations of Poles and laid the foundations for the success of Polish archaeologists. His bust in the pantheon of the most eminent Egyptologists welcomes tourists visiting the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. He continues to inspire as a tireless scientist and explorer, an outstanding educator, patriot and gentleman.

He was born on 14 December 1901 in Tarnopol (now Ternopil in Ukraine) in the Austrian partition. As a teenager, he took part in the defence of Lwów (Lviv), fought in the Polish Legions and in the Polish-Soviet War. He started his scientific career at the University of Lwów and expanded his knowledge of archaeology abroad. At the age of 30, he became a professor and led the Chair of Classical Archaeology at the University of Warsaw. He decided to realise the ambitious goal of starting professional Polish excavations on the Mediterranean.

In 1936, in cooperation with French archaeologists, he began Polish excavations in Edfu, Egypt. The discovered artefacts were already presented in 1937 in the new building of the National Museum in Warsaw. Scientific publications and the results of the excavations brought Michałowski international recognition. His successes were interrupted by the Second World War.

After the German attack on Poland, he fought in the September campaign and was sent to the German war camp at Woldenberg. While in captivity, he organised a university for officers, lectured on Egyptology and taught the reading of hieroglyphs.

In 1956, as a result of his efforts, Polish archaeologists took part in excavations at Mirmeki in the Crimea. In the same year in Egypt, he began excavations at Tell Atrib and lectured at the University of Cairo and Alexandria. Subsequently, he directed research in Deir el-Bahari, where he discovered the temple of Pharaoh Tuthmosis III, and in Alexandria, where Polish archaeologists excavated the ruins of the city from the Roman period. In the 1960s, he contributed greatly to the campaign to relocate the rock temples at Abu Simbel. In 1961, he travelled to Faras in Sudan, where he discovered a Nubian cathedral with well-preserved wall paintings.

Michałowski initiated a system of work, referred to as the Polish school of archaeology, which consisted in including in his team specialists from various fields studying various categories of relics of the past. The system soon found followers.