The German Archaeological Institute at Athens (; ) is one of the 19 foreign archaeological institutes operating in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

General information, history, facilities

The Athens department was the second department founded by the institute (after Rome) in 1874 and it is the second foreign institute in Athens (after the École Française d’Athènes). Part of the institute was established on May 17, 1872, and inaugurated on December 9, 1874. The construction of the building in which it is housed was funded by Heinrich Schliemann; the plans were made by Ernst Ziller and Wilhelm Dörpfeld. Today, it is one of several specialised departments that make up the

German Archaeological Institute The German Archaeological Institute (, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office, Federal Foreign Office of Germany. Status, tasks and ...

. With an ongoing research programme, an 80,000-volume library and a large photographic archive, the German Archaeological Institute at Athens remains a major contributor to Greek archaeology. Along with other foreign archaeological schools in Athens, it is a member of a large scientific community and an indispensable part of the life of the antiquity archaeology scholars who work temporarily or permanently in Athens. The photo collection that resides in its library contains more than 140,000 negatives and is frequented by interested parties from all over the world. The scientific journal "Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologische Institut, Athenische Abteilung" ( English: Publications from the German Archaeological Institute, Athenian Department) has been published annually since 1876. The department has also published numerous scientific monographs, including reports on the department's excavations. Right from the start, it has not only carried out its own research and excavations, but also supports and promotes the work of other German and Greek scientists. Field research (excavations, topographical and architectural studies) has been carried out by the Athens Department since its foundation in almost all regions of Greece, until the Istanbul Department was founded in 1929 in western Asia Minor as well.

Archaeological fieldwork

It has been involved in a multitude of

excavations In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

, such as

Leukas Lefkada (, ''Lefkáda'', ), also known as Lefkas or Leukas (Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Λευκάς, ''Leukás'', modern pronunciation ''Lefkás'') and Leucadia, is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea on the west coast of Greece, connected to ...

and Ithaca (

Ionian Islands The Ionian Islands (Modern Greek: , ; Ancient Greek, Katharevousa: , ) are a archipelago, group of islands in the Ionian Sea, west of mainland Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese ("Seven Islands"; , ''Heptanēsa'' or , ''Heptanē ...

), Orchomenos and Thebes (

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...

), Menidi and

Eleusis Elefsina () or Eleusis ( ; ) is a suburban city and Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Athens metropolitan area. It belongs to West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is located in the Thriasio Plain, at the northernmost ...

(

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

) and

Amyklai Amyclae or Amyklai () was a city of ancient Laconia, situated on the right or western bank of the Eurotas, 20 stadia south of Sparta, in a district remarkable for the abundance of its trees and its fertility. Amyclae was one of the most celebrat ...

(

Laconia Laconia or Lakonia (, , ) is a historical and Administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparti (municipality), Sparta. The word ...

). Current activities include excavations at Kalapodi (

Tiryns Tiryns ( or ; Ancient Greek: Τίρυνς; Modern Greek: Τίρυνθα) is a Mycenaean archaeological site in Argolis in the Peloponnese, and the location from which the mythical hero Heracles was said to have performed his Twelve Labours. It ...

(

Argolid The regions of ancient Greece were sub-divisions of the Hellenic world as conceived by the ancient Greeks, shown by their presence in the works of ancient historians and geographers or in surviving legends and myths. Conceptually, there is no cl ...

), the

Kerameikos Kerameikos (, ) also known by its latinization of names, Latinized form Ceramicus, is an area of Athens, Greece, located to the northwest of the Acropolis, Athens, Acropolis, which includes an extensive area both within and outside the ancient ci ...

(

), Ancient Olympia (

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

) and the Heraion of

Samos Samos (, also ; , ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese archipelago, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the Mycale Strait. It is also a separate reg ...

Directors

* Otto Lüders 1872–1874 * Ulrich Köhler 1875–1886 *

Eugen Petersen Eugen Adolf Hermann Petersen (16 August 1836 in Heiligenhafen – 14 December 1919 in Hamburg) was a German classical archaeologist and classical philologist, philologist. He studied classical philology at the universities of University of Ki ...

1886-1887 *

Wilhelm Dörpfeld Wilhelm Dörpfeld (26 December 1853 – 25 April 1940) was a German architect and archaeologist, a pioneer of stratigraphy, stratigraphic excavation and precise graphical documentation of archaeological projects. He is famous for his work on B ...

1887–1912 * Georg Karo 1912–1919 and 1930–1936 * Ernst Buschor 1921–1929 * Walter Wrede 1937–1944 * Emil Kunze 1951–1966 * Ulf Jantzen 1967–1974 * Helmut Kyrieleis 1975–1988 * Klaus Fittschen 1989–2001 * Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier 2001–2013 * Katja Sporn 2014–Today

References

Bibliography

*E. Korka et al. (eds.): Foreign Archaeological Schools in Greece, 160 Years, Athens, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, date, p. 74-85.

External links

DAI Athens website

DAI Athens Facebook page

AtheNea 2019
{{authority control Foreign Archaeological Institutes in Greece Classical educational institutes Germany–Greece relations 1870s establishments in Greece