Travels of Count Michał Tyszkiewicz to Africa, his excavations in 1861–1862, and the origin of his collection of Egyptian antiquities

Abstract

Count Michał Tyszkiewicz (1828–1897) was one of the most renowned collectors of the ancient classical art at the end of the 19th century. His interest in archaeology and ancient art was developed during his travel through Egypt in 1861. His Journal of the Travel to Egypt and Nubia, fortunately found in 1992 in Poznań, recounts this journey. From Egypt, Michał Tyszkiewicz brought a collection of antiquities, estimated to have comprised c. 800 objects; today, over a half of them can be found in museums in Paris (Louvre), Warsaw, Vilnius, Kaunas, and Moscow. The majority of the objects originated from excavations conducted by the count, particularly in Thebes (Luxor area), by virtue of an official licence granted to him exceptionally by Mohamed Said Pasha – the then head of the Egyptian state. The present article discusses the circumstances of granting of this permission in the period when a strict state monopoly was imposed on archaeological investigations and presents the course of the excavations along with their results.