The idea of loan of the obelisk
of Ramesses II from the Egyptian Museum in Berlin to the Poznań Archaeological
Museum was developed by the directors of both institutions, professors
Dietrich Wildung and Lech Krzyżaniak. Friends since many years, cooperating
in research of Egypt and the Sudan, they decided to add this unique
object to the exhibition "Death and Life in Ancient Egypt", installed
in Poznań several years earlier. Not too many obelisks have been preserved
till modern times, and those in the museums are quite rare. And very
few of them changed their location during the last century... The directors
of both museums did not wait until Poland enters the European Union,
but believed justly that there are no borders for friendship and science.
The only problem posed was whether the obelisk would suit the space
where it was intended to be placed: the courtyard of the Renaissance
palace of the Górka family, seat of the Archaeological Museum. The future
answered this question. The courtyard with the obelisk became one of
the Poznań magical places.
