Grunne Francoise de

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Biografie:
FRANCOISE DE GRUNNE (1927-1960).
Mlle Francoise de Grunne, - who died in 1960 on the slopes of Mt. Dobany in Gilgit, was a remarkable woman who, had she lived longer, might well have made valuable contributions to our knowledge of the regions of Swat, Gilgit and Chitral, in which she was greatly interested.
She was born on October 20, 1927, the daughter of our former member, the late Count Xavier de Grunne, and was educated in convent schools and at Louvain University. Mountaineering being in her blood, she took to it easily in the ·Alps, in Greece and in Syria, and she was in addition particularly attracted to Byzantine art and -history.
In 1957 she took up a post at Peshawar University and became deeply interested in Gandharan art, that unique blend of Greek and Indian-Buddhist culture to be found in those regions. She travelled widely, especially in the semi-independent tribal areas, where her presence was apt to be a thorn in the flesh to the officials who sought to administer the rather sketchy police-administration of those parts.
However, Mile de Grunne, though usually travelling alone, with a minimum of porters, managed, by her combination of charm, adroitness and perseverance, generally to get her requests granted, and was in fact never involved in serious trouble.
In 1958 she travelled in the Astor, Punial and Yasin regions of the Gilgit Agency, and in 1959 was allowed to visit the territories of Darel and Tangir previously only entered by Sir Aurel Stein (1913) and Dr. Karl Jettmar (1956 and 1958). Later, in 1959, she proceeded via Swat and Dir to join a climbing party of the Karakoram Club on Tirich Mir, and though unsuccessful in the ascent, she got a view of other mountains, to the north and west, that fired her enthusiasm, and she sought to visit them in the winter of 1959-60.
T. S. BLAKENEY
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 66, 1961, Seite 387-388


Geboren am:
20.10.1927
Gestorben am:
1960