Welcome

Welcome to the website of the Belgian School at Athens. We are primarily engaged in archaeological research in Greece, which especially includes excavation and survey but also material studies and the publication, presentation and preservation of results. Our main projects are the excavations at Thorikos in South Attica (Lavrion Attikis), and, on the island of Crete, at Sissi (Agiou Nikolaou) and at Itanos (Sitias), both in the Lasithi province.

Apart from these projects, we host a library with a large number of Belgian publications on Greek archaeology, we organise conferences, seminars, courses, and colloquia.

Through this website we hope to reach all those interested in Greek archaeology. Our calendar highlights not only our activities in Greece but also scientific activities related to Greek archaeology organized in Belgium. You can also find guidelines on excavation and research permits, Belgian academic institutions involved in research on Greek soil and heritage

The director
Jan Driessen

Activities in Greece

Clarifications on travelling procedures to Greece

Yesterday, May 31st the Greek government offered additional clarifications on the arrival of travellers departing from an airport outside the 29 countries of the 'white list'. Please read the useful article below on the procedures these travellers are supposed to go through arriving to Athens or Thessaloniki.

https://www.ekathimerini.com/253248/article/ekathimerini/news/greece-clarifies-policy-to-allow-tourists-from-all-nations?fbclid=IwAR33LISZGcgWqPNEK7VabQ_-gVBTDIAkYhnsPjN7wA6BI68OmInV-ulMzng

Announcement of the list of 29 countries

The Greek government officially announced May 29th, the "white list" of countries whose citizens are susceptible to travel through the Athens and Thessaloniki airports to Greece without medical controls (only random tests will be performed). Belgium is not part of this list valid from June 15th to July 1st when a new, updated version of the said list will be published by the Greek government.

https://www.ekathimerini.com/253190/article/ekathimerini/news/germany-china-included-in-greek-list-of-accepted-countries-for-tourists-in-june

More activities in Greece

Activities in Belgium

Triste nouvelle

Nous apprenons avec une très grande tristesse le décès simultané de Françoise et Philippe Valentin, tous les deux décédés le 4 avril du Covid-19. Ensemble, ils avaient fondé et porté à bout de bras l’Association Alexandre le Grand à Charleroi (http://alexandrelegrand.be/) qui, placée sous le haut patronage de l’Ambassade de Grèce en Belgique, fait rayonner très haut depuis 30 ans l’humanisme et le philhellénisme à travers des conférences qui avaient su attirer un large public. C’est une lourde disparition pour tous les amis de la Grèce en Belgique.

Jean-Pierre Olivier 1939-2020

This post is to convey the news that Jean-Pierre Olivier has passed away in Brussels on 6 January. Until the end of 2019, despite serious health problems, he kept on working actively

on his projects, but in the new year his condition deteriorated very quickly.

Jean-Pierre (b. 1939) was a former member of the French School at Athens and an emeritus research director at the Belgian FNRS. A student of Claire Préaux at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, he belonged to the first generation of scholars who engaged from the 1960s onward with the study of Linear B, inspired by its then recent decipherment by Michael Ventris in collaboration with John Chadwick. He subsequently developed into one of the most prolific and significant researchers in the field of Aegean and Cypriot

syllabic scripts and edited or co-edited several corpora of texts in the Cretan Hieroglyphic, Linear A, Linear B and Cypro-Minoan. In the field of Linear B studies in particular, he was instrumental in the editing of corpora of texts from Pylos, Knossos, Tiryns, Thebes and Mycenae. He is also the author of a seminal study on the Mycenaean scribes from Knossos, as well as of numerous philological and historical contributions on the economy, administration and tax system of the Mycenaean kingdoms.

For all of those who knew him personally and have been taught by him his passing is a great loss. He was a unique scholar and a fiercely loyal friend and, although he will be greatly missed, he is certain not to be forgotten. He is survived by his long-time companion Frieda Vandenabeele and a small company of cats that descend from the proud generation of Pipituna, a Cretan cat adopted by him in Malia.

More activities in Belgium