In late September/early October, an „Evening with Mycenaean Amber” was held at the Athens PAIA headquarters in two language versions: on September 30th in Polish, and on October 1st in English. The main topic was a particularly spectacular type of amber product known from the Mycenaean culture and called a pectoral. An introduction to the issue of Mycenaean amber pectorals was presented by Prof. Janusz Czebreszuk, director of PAIA. Then, a film documenting the production process of a copy of a Mycenaean amber pectoral, which was created in 2014 as part of the project sponsored by the National Science Centre, was shown. The experimental archaeologist who took part in the aforementioned film is Eryk Popkiewicz M.A. He was also present at both events in Athens at the invitation of the Instititute. During the screening of the film E. Popkiewicz M.A. explained the individual stages of production and answered questions from the audience. The highlight of the evening was the unveiling of the copy made in the film, which will be permanently exhibited at the PAIA headquarters. A glass display case prepared especially for this purpose hangs on the wall of our library. A QR code with a link to the English version of the presented film was placed next to the case. Then, mgr E. Popkiewicz presented to the audience a set of tools for amber processing and how to use them. Each meeting lasted until late in the evening. Discussions continued during refreshments.
We were honored with the presence of, among others, Dr. Konstantinos Nikolentzos, Head of the Department of Prehistoric, Egyptian, Cypriot and Near Eastern Antiquities Collections at the National Archaeological Museum, Ms. Katerina Kostanti (National Archaeological Museum), Ms. Justyna Słowik (Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Athens), representatives of the Polish community, guests from Poland, our colleagues from other institutes: Finnish, American and Italian and members of PAIA.