Welcome

The EBSA is pleased to invite you to our annual meeting, where the work of the School will be presented, and to the lecture of Dr. Bruno Overlaet entitled "Mleiha, an Arab Kingdom on the Fringes of the Hellenistic World". 

The Belgian School of Archaeology at Athens was extremely honoured to welcome Their Majesties the King and Queen of the Belgians in an Academic session on topics about the impact of new technologies for archaeology and heritage conservation on May 3rd 2022 at the Cape Sounion Grecotel. At this occassion, Professor Athena Tsingarida, Director of the School, presented to Their Majesties a brief history of the Belgian School at Athens, while Professors Jan Driessen (UCLouvain),  Roald Docter (UGent), Dr Yangos Chalazonitis (ULB), accompanied by their Rectors, introduced some of the new technologies used on the three sites excavated by the School, Thorikos in South-East Attica, Sissi (Agiou Nikolaou) and Itanos (Sitias), both in Crete. Their Majesties were accompanied by HE Lina G. Mendoni, Minister of Culture and Sports (Hellenic Republic); Mr Dimitrios Loukas, Mayor of Lavrio; and Ms Constantina Benissi, Head of the Department for Supervision of Greek and Foreign Scientific Institutions (Hellenic Ministery of Culture);  HE Pierre-Yves Jeholet, President Minister of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation; HE Françoise Gustin, Ambassador of Belgium to the Hellenic Republic; HE Petra De Sutter, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Service, Public Enterprises, Telecommunications and Post, Federal Government; and Ms Pascale Delcomminette, CEO of WBI.

Parallel to this session, Professor Robert Laffineur (ULiège) and Dr Eleni Andrikou (Director of the Ephorate of Antiquities of East Attica) deliver presentations on the archaeological sites of Thorikos and the Sounion.

The morning session was followed in the afternoon by a guided tour of the archaeological site of Thorikos which is one of the three excavations of the Belgian School of Archaeology at Athens. It is Professor Roald Docter (UGent), Director of the research program on the site, who led Their Majesties and the rest of the attendance throughout some of the highlights of the area, such as the ancient theater, the industrial washeries and the mining network.