Félix Marie Charles Texier (22 August 1802,

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...

– 1 July 1871,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

) was a French historian, architect and

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

. Texier published a number of significant works involving personal travels throughout

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

and the Middle East. These books included descriptions and maps of ancient sites, reports of regional

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

and

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other Astronomical object, astronomical objects, the features or rock (geology), rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology ...

, descriptions of art works and architecture, et al. Trained as an architect at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...

in Paris, he was appointed inspector of public works in 1827. He conducted excavations of the port cities of

Fréjus Fréjus (; ) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 54,458. It neighbours Saint-Raphaël, effectively forming one urban agglomeration. The north ...

and Ostia.Prosopo
Sociétés savantes de France In 1833 he was sent on an exploratory mission to

, where, in 1834, he discovered ruins of the ancient Hittite capital of

Hattusa Hattusa (also Ḫattuša or Hattusas ; Hittite: URU''Ḫa-at-tu-ša'', Turkish: Hattuşaş , Hattic: Hattush) was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of ...

. As a result of the expedition, he published the three-volume ''Description de l'Asie Mineure faite par ordre du Gouvernement français''. Later in the decade he participated in an expedition that took him to

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

.1833 - Quondam
(biographical & bibliographical information) In 1840, he became deputy professor of

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsc ...

at the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...

, and in 1845 relocated to

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

as inspector general of public buildings. In 1855, he was elected to the

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigr ...

Published works

* ''Asie mineure: description géographique, historique et archéologique des provinces et des villes de la Chersonnèse d'Asie'', 1862 – Asia Minor, geographical, historical and archaeological descriptions of its provinces and cities. * ''Description de l'Arménie et de la Perse, de la Mésopotamie'', 1842–45 – Description of Armenia, Persia and Mesopotamia. * ''Mémoires sur la Ville et le port de Fréjus'', 1847 – Memoirs on the city and port of Fréjus. * ''Édesse et ses monuments'', 1859 –

Edessa Edessa (; grc, Ἔδεσσα, Édessa) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, founded during the Hellenistic period by King Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroe ...

and its monuments. * ', 1864 – Translated into English and published as ''Byzantine architecture : illustrated by examples of edifices erected in the East during the earliest ages of Christianity'', London, (with

Richard Popplewell Pullan Richard Popplewell Pullan was an architect and brother-in-law of William Burges. He is known for his work in archaeology including the discovery of the Lion of Knidos. Life Pullan was born at Knaresborough on 27 March 1825. He was articled to R ...

), 1864.
''The principal ruins of Asia Minor''
London, (with Richard Popplewell Pullan), 1865.WorldCat Identities
(published works)

References

The American cyclopaedia
edited by George Ripley & Charles Anderson Dana * Parts of this article are based on a translation of text from the

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia (french: Wikipédia en français) is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has articl ...

, sources listed as: ** Texte extrait de Atlas topographique des villes de Gaule - 2 - Fréjus (Revue archéologique de Narbonaise) par L. Rivet, D. Brentchaloff, S. Roucole, S. Saulnier. (p. 23). ** Nouveau Larousse illustré, Dictionnaire universel encyclopédique, published under the editorship of

Claude Augé Claude Augé (; 31 October 1854 – 22 July 1924) was a French pedagogue, publisher, and lexicographer. Biography First a school master, he married a grand niece of Pierre Larousse's wife, joined the Librairie Larousse as bookkeeper in 1885 an ...

, Paris, Librairie Larousse, 1898 - 1907. {{DEFAULTSORT:Texier, Charles 1802 births 1871 deaths 19th-century French historians Historians of antiquity 19th-century French architects French archaeologists People from Versailles Academic staff of the Collège de France Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres French male non-fiction writers 19th-century French male writers Travelers in Asia Minor