The last Cypriot archaeologist, Professor Dr. Vassos Karagiorgis, who had been facing serious health problems for the last year, passed away yesterday, December 21, at the age of 92.
The great CV
Archaeologist. He was the director of the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus. He was born in 1929 in the village of Trikomo in the province of Famagusta. After graduating from the Cypriot High School he went to England where, from 1948 to 1952, he studied at University College and the Institute of Archeology at the University of London. In 1957 he was awarded a doctorate by this University.
Immediately after completing his studies he returned to Cyprus in 1952 where he worked at the Cyprus Museum as an assistant curator (1952 -1960) and as a curator (1960 -1963). From 1963 he took over the management of the Department of Antiquities, succeeding in this position the brilliant Cypriot archaeologist Porphyrios Dikaios *. He served as the director of the Department of Antiquities until his retirement in 1989. During this time Vassos Karagiorgis conducted a series of excavations in many parts of Cyprus, especially in Salamina and the necropolis of Salamis, in Kition, in Pyla ( Kokkinokremmos ), in Maa ( Paleokastro ), in Pentagia and elsewhere. Between 1968 and 1971 he taught at Laval University in Quebec (Canada) as a visiting professor. He has also occasionally given a large number of lectures on ancient Cyprus in many European countries, in the USA and Canada, participated in many international conferences and made a series of scientific papers. He has also published hundreds of studies and articles in various archaeological and scientific publications, in various countries and in various languages (Greek, English, German, French), and published a large number of books about ancient Cyprus, about places in Cyprus where we did archaeological excavations and for individual aspects of Cypriot archeology.
Among the honors sometimes bestowed on Vassos Karagiorgis are the Societé des Études Grecques Prize of the Sorbonne (1966) and the RB Bennett Commonwealth Prize (1978), as well as the honorary doctorate of the University of Lyon (1972). of Gothenburg (1972), of Athens (1973), of Birmingham (1974) etc. He is also a corresponding member of the Archaeological Society of Athens (since 1962), the German Archaeological Institute (since 1968), the Academy of Athens (since 1974) etc. institutions. In 1990 he was awarded the title of Doctor by the University of Oxford, while in Greece he was awarded the Onassis Prize for his contribution and efforts to save ancient objects from Cyprus which the Turks are fleeing and trading.
He has published dozens of books and hundreds of articles on Cypriot archeology. For his contribution to science he has received many academic and other distinctions, is a member of important European and international archaeological societies and institutes and has been honored by foreign governments. From the many books written and published by Vassos Karagiorgis, we mention the following:
1. Treasures in the Cyprus Museum , (Nicosia, 1962).
2. Sculptures from Salamis , vol. I (Nicosia, 1964).
3. Sculptures from Salamis , vol. II (together with CC Vermeule, Nicosia, 1966).
4. Excavations in the Necropolis of Salamis , I (Nicosia, 1967).
5. Cyprus (Archaeologia Mundi) (Geneva, 1968).
6. Mycenaean Art from Cyprus (Nicosia, 1968).
7. Salamis in Cyprus. Homeric, Hellenistic and Roman (London, 1969).
8. Excavations in the Necropolis of Salamis , II (Nicosia, 1970).
9. Excavations in the Necropolis of Salamis , III (Nicosia, 1973).
10. Cyprus (in the series of publications “Museums and Monuments of Greece”, Athens, 1973).
11. Cyprus Museum (in the series of publications “The Greek Museums”, Athens, 1974).
12. Excavations at Kition , I, The Tombs (Nicosia, 1974).
13. Alaas, a Protogeometric Necropolis in Cyprus (Nicosia, 1975).
14. Kition. Mycenaean and Phoenician discoveries in Cyprus (London, 1976).
15. The Civilization of Prehistoric Cyprus (Athens, 1975).
16. The Prehistoric Culture of Cyprus (Athens, 1976).
17. Excavations in the Necropolis of Salamis , IV (Nicosia, 1978).
18. Ancient Cyprus . From the Neolithic era By the end t th th Roman (Athens, 1978).
19. Cyprus. From the Stone Age to the Romans (London, 1982).
20. Ancient Cyprus. 7000 years of Art and Archeology (Athens, 1982).
21. The first Greeks in Cyprus. Archaeological evidence (Athens, 1991).
22. Greek gods and heroes in ancient Cyprus (Athens, 1998).
23. Excavating the Salamis of Cyprus (Athens, 1999).
24. Cyprus. The crossroads of the eastern Mediterranean 1600 – 500 BC (Athens, 2002).
25. Ancient Cypriot art at the National Archaeological Museum (Athens, 2003).
26. A whole life in Cypriot archeology: the memories of Vassos Karagiorgis (Nicosia, 2009).
Several other published books by Vassos Karagiorgis have been written in collaboration with foreign archaeologists. A large volume of his work is also published in the volumes of the annual Report of the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus (RDAC) .
In 1990 Vassos Karagiorgis joined the AG Leventis Foundation and in 1992 accepted his appointment as the first professor of Archeology at the University of Cyprus and director of the Archeology Research Unit. In 1996 he retired from the University of Cyprus, remaining at the Leventis Foundation, where he serves as director and consultant in all archaeological programs. In March 2009, the presidents of the Hellenic Republic and the Republic of Cyprus inaugurated a special room at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, which permanently exhibits antiquities from Cyprus. The room is a donation of the AG Leventis Foundation, under the scientific supervision of Professor V. Karagiorgis.
In May 2008, the President of the Hellenic Republic, Karolos Papoulias, awarded a special ceremony at the Presidential Palace, an honorary distinction to Dr. Vassos Karagiorgis for his contribution to archeology.
polignosi.com
