From Constantinople to Warsaw

This paper discusses a late Byzantine transport container, known as a Günsenin III type amphora, currently housed in the National Museum in Warsaw. Donated in 1921 by Władysław Semerau-Siemianowski, the vessel was originally discovered in the ruins of Constantinople. This paper examines the provenance of the amphora in the historical context of early Polish scholars’ interest in Byzantine studies, as well as the fate of the museum collection during the Second World War. It explores the debate over the amphora’s origins between Chalcis and northern Anatolia and traces their distribution across the Black Sea region, Poland, and Scandinavia during the 12th and 13th centuries CE.

Amphora · Black sea · Byzantine architecture · Context (archaeology) · National museum · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Byzantine Studies and History · Eurasian Exchange Networks