Olympia - The Archaeological Site and the Museums

Manolis Andronicos was born at Prusa in 1919. He studied classical archaeology at the University of Thessalonike (1936-1940) and took his doctorate there in 1952. His thesis was entitled Plato and Art (reprinted in 1984). During the German occupation he left for the Middle East and after the war taught privately. In 1949 he entered the Archaeological Service. In 1954-1955 he spent 2 years in Oxford, engaged in post-doctoral studies. In 1957 he was appointed lecturer and in 1961 Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Thessalonike where he taught until his retirement in 1983. In addition to his archaeological and academic activities he was concerned with matters of education, art and literature and published studies and articles in many newspapers and periodicals, most of which have been printed as collected essays. He taught and lectured frequently in many American and European universities and, in addition to numerous articles in Greek and foreign periodicals, he wrote several books. He excavated at various sites in northern Greece (Veroia, Kilkis, Chalcidice, Thessalonike) but much of his effort was concentrated on Vergina where he first worked as an assistant to his teacher, K.A. Rhomaios (1938-1940); in 1952 he embarked on his own excavations. His systematic work led, in 1977, to the discovery of the magnificent finds in the tombs of the royal family of Macedonia, probably including that of Philip II. Manolis Andronicos was a life member of the Archaeological Society of Athens, member of the Society for Macedonian Studies, of the German Archaeological Institute of Berlin, of the A.I.C.A., of Art Thessalonike, of the Explorer's Club of New York, honorary member of the Spanish Association of Classical Studies Pastor and of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, London. He was president of the Archaeological Council (1964-1965), of the National Theatre of Northern Greece (1974-1975) and a vice-president of the National Hellenic Research Foundation. In 1980 the Athens Academy elected him a corresponding member and in 1982 he received the Olympia Prize from the A. Onassis Foundation.