Collections & Research Staff

Krzysztof Ciuk
Assistant Curator
Islamic History and Archaeology

B.A., Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Poland, 1967
M.A. University of Warsaw, Poland, 1969

Krzys Ciuk has been involved in a wide range of Eastern European and Middle Eastern contexts since receiving his M.A. He has traveled and worked extensively in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, gaining a great deal of experience as an archaeologist and a museum curator specializing in archaeology and art history. Prior to joining the ROM's West Asian section of World Cultures Department in 1983, Krzys was a staff member in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Warsaw where he undertook projects including complete excavations of such diverse sites as burial mounds, manors, castles, and cemeteries, among others, and served as chief archaeologist at the Historical Museum of Warsaw.

As assistant curator, Krzys has participated in nine seasons of excavations, first in Iraq (at Nippur with the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago) and then in Yemen (the ROM's own expedition to the Islamic city of Zabid as well as a megalithic site on the Red Sea coast). He has written articles on Parthian and Sasanian pottery from Iraq, co-authored a book on prehistoric and Islamic pottery from Yemen, and organized four exhibits focused on Turkish and central Asian topics.

In May 2000, Krzys Ciuk embarked on a project on the ROM's behalf — the study of late mediaeval pottery from excavations of the funerary complex of a Mamluk emir Qurqumas in Old Cairo, in co-operation with the University of Warsaw. Ciuk's main responsibilities include the curatorship of the ROM's collection of Islamic arms and armour and the preparation of a catalogue raisonné. He was responsible for curating the exhibition, Legacy in Gold: Scythian Treasures from Ancient Ukraine and is currrently working on a new exhibtion on Trypillian culture of the Ukraine coming to the ROM in 2008.

Krzys Ciuk speaks Polish, Russian and French fluently, and is proficient in other Slavic languages, as well as German.

Current Exhibitions
Ancient Ukraine: Mysteries of the Trypillian Culture – November 29, 2008 to March 22, 2009.

Galleries
Wirth Gallery of the Middle East

ROM Images
Ancient Near East
The Islamic World

Other Links
New Stories - Wirth Gallery of the Middle East
ROM Friends of the Far East (FFE)
Archaeological Newsletter - Mausoleum of Mamluk Emir Kabir Qurqumas in Cairo

Contact Information
Department of World Cultures
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park
Toronto, ON
M5S 2C6

t 416.586.5691
e World Cultures

 

 

Krzys Ciuk

Mysteries of Ancient Ukraine: The Remarkable Trypilian Culture (5400-2700 BC) Krzysztof Ciuk, Editor