Christiane Desroches Noblecourt (; 17 November 1913 – 23 June 2011) was a French

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious ...

. She was the

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

of many books on

Egyptian art Ancient Egyptian art refers to art produced in ancient Egypt between the 6th millennium BC and the 4th century AD, spanning from Prehistoric Egypt until the Christianization of Roman Egypt. It includes paintings, sculpture ...

and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and was also known for her role in the

International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia The International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia was the relocation of 22 monuments in Lower Nubia, in Southern Egypt and northern Sudan, between 1960 and 1980. The success of the project, in particular the creation of a coalition of 50 ...

from flooding caused by the

Aswan Dam The Aswan Dam, or more specifically since the 1960s, the Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. Its significance largely eclipsed the previous Aswan L ...

Background

She was born Christiane Desroches on 17 November 1913, in

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. S ...

, daughter of Louis Desroches (lawyer) and Madeleine Girod. In 1922 she was fascinated by Howard Carter’s discovery of the tomb of

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...

, and encouraged by priest and scholar, Father Étienne Drioton, she joined the Egyptian Antiquities department at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

. She studied Egyptology at

École du Louvre The École du Louvre is an institution of higher education and grande école located in the Aile de Flore of the Louvre Palace in Paris, France. It is dedicated to the study of archaeology, art history, anthropology and epigraphy. Admission is ...

and received a Diploma in Archaeology in 1935 under Étienne Drioton and Charles Boreux. In 1937, she received her PhD in philology from the École Pratique des Hautes études of the Sorbonne, under

Gustave Lefebvre Gustave Lefebvre (17 July 1879 – 1 November 1957) was a French Egyptologist. As inspector for Middle Egypt for the Egyptian Antiquities Service headed by Gaston Maspero, he managed the partage of Ludwig Borchardt's excavations at el- Amarna, ...

, Alexandre Moret and

Raymond Weill Raymond Weill (28 January 1874 – 13 July 1950) was a French archaeologist specialized in Egyptology. Biography Born on 28 January 1874 in Elbeuf, 28 January 1874 in Elbeuf began his career in the military before starting a career with Gaston ...

. She was the first woman to be a fellow of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology (IFAO), and was also the first woman to lead an archaeological dig, in 1938. She excavated at the IFAO sites at

Edfu Edfu ( egy, bḥdt, ar, إدفو , ; also spelt Idfu, or in modern French as Edfou) is an Egyptian city, located on the west bank of the Nile River between Esna and Aswan, with a population of approximately sixty thousand people. Edfu is the site ...

Deir el-Medina Deir el-Medina ( arz, دير المدينة), or Dayr al-Madīnah, is an ancient Egyptian workmen's village which was home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the 18th to 20th Dynasties of the New Kingdom of ...

Medamud Medamud (, from ) was a settlement in ancient Egypt. Its present-day territory is located about 8 km east-north from Luxor. The Temple of Montu was located here. It was excavated by Fernand Bisson de la Roque in 1925, who identified sev ...

and Karnak North from 1938 to 1940. In 1940, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she returned to Paris and joined the Resistance, hiding the Louvre's Egyptian treasures in free areas of France. In December 1940, she was arrested at Moulins but was freed after three days. In 1942, she married André Noblecourt, an engineer, and later security advisor to the national museums of France, International Council of Museums (ICOM) and

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

. They had one son. She died on 23 June 2011 at 97.

UNESCO Campaign to Save the Temples

Desroches Noblecourt was a leading figure in the campaign for the preservation of ancient Nubian temples from flooding caused by the new

Aswan High Dam The Aswan Dam, or more specifically since the 1960s, the Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. Its significance largely eclipsed the previous Aswan Lo ...

. With the existing dam's capacity not meeting the needs of Egypt's ever-growing population, in 1954 the government of

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

decided to build a new dam. The monuments of ancient Nubia would have been flooded if the project had gone ahead as planned. 1961 UNESCO Courier - UNESCO documents regarding the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia

1961 UNESCO Courier - UNESCO documents regarding the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia

Mustafa Amer, head of the Antiquities Service, set up the Centre des études et de documentation d’archéologie égyptienne (CEDAE), and in 1954, reportedly Amer sent a telegram and letter to UNESCO in Paris suggesting as a possible archive specialist for the new Centre, one of which was Desroches Noblecourt, then curator of Egyptian antiquities at the

. Desroches Noblecourt was chosen as the UNESCO’s advisor to the CEDAE and she arrived in Cairo in November 1954 . Amer stated that he never suggested Desroches Noblecourt but they worked well together. They began with the recording of the Tombs of the Nobles at Luxor, but in early 1955, Desroches Noblecourt reported back to

that the potential flooding of the monuments of ancient Nubia by the new Aswan High Dam were of immediate importance. In 1959, Desroches Noblecourt encouraged Sarwat Okasha, the Egyptian Minister of Culture to ask UNESCO for its support. Later that year both the Sudanese and Egyptian governments requested UNESCO's support and together they launched the twenty-two year campaign to save the temples of ancient Nubia. Fifty countries contributed funds to save the monuments. The Temple of Amada was a difficult case, because of its small, beautifully painted reliefs. Desroches Noblecourt announced that France would save it. However, more funds were needed for this project. To this end Desroches Noblecourt requested an interview with

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

, who had no idea of the commitment she had made in the name of her country. Reportedly on learning of it, he demanded, “Madame, how dare you say that France will save the temple, without authorization from my government?” Noblecourt replied, “General, how dare you make an appeal on the radio without authorization from Pétain?” De Gaulle agreed to honour Noblecourt's promise. Ultimately the rescue project, including the transportation and reconstruction of the temples on their new sites, took over twenty years. Desroches Noblecourt and France's role in the

saw an improvement in Franco-Egyptian relations, which had been poor since the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

crisis A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...

of 1956. Desroches Noblecourt organized several exhibitions with objects traveling from Egypt, some for the first time, namely the

exhibition at the Louvre in 1967 and

Ramses II Ramesses II ( egy, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is often regarded as t ...

in 1976. In 1972, in recognition of France's contributions to the

, the government of

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 ...

gave to the Louvre the bust of

Amenhotep IV Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dy ...

(Akhenaten).

Exhibition of ''Tutankhamun and His Times''

In 1963, Desroches Noblecourt published ''Tutankhamen: Life and Death of a Pharaoh'', and in the years following, as head of Egyptian Antiquities at the Louvre, Desroches Noblecourt organised the

exhibition in 1967. The exhibition entitled "Tutankhamun and His Times" was visited by over a million people. The proceeds from the exhibition went to the Abu Simbel rescue fund, totaling nearly US$500,000. The exhibition was bigger, with more objects from the tomb, than had previously toured North America and Japan. Desroches Noblecourt negotiated the objects that would form the exhibition, and they included the gold mask of Tutankhamun, marking the first time it entered Europe.

Ramses II

In May 1976, there was an exhibition of Ramses II at the Grand Palais, and by September it had had over 650,000 visitors. In September 1976, Ramses II's mummified body flew into Paris, accompanied from Cairo by Desroches Noblecourt, where it underwent testing at Musee de l'Homme at Trocaclero, a branch of the

Paris Museum of Natural History The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loca ...

. Desroches Noblecourt, Prof. Lionel Baloud, the head of the Musee de l'Homme, and Colette Roubet later published the study ''La momie de Ramsès II'' in 1985''.''

Awards and honours

Christiane Desroches Noblecourt - UNESCO Photobank (80306841)

Christiane Desroches Noblecourt has been awarded several prestigious honours, including in 1975 the gold medal of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), and in January 2008, the Grand Cross of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

, the highest decoration in France, as well as: * Officer of the

Ordre national du Mérite The Ordre national du Mérite (; en, National Order of Merit) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's esta ...

Médaille de la Résistance The Resistance Medal (french: Médaille de la Résistance) was a decoration bestowed by the French Committee of National Liberation, based in the United Kingdom, during World War II. It was established by a decree of General Charles de Gaulle on 9 ...

* Honorary PhD from Institut Catholique * Commander of the

Ordre des Palmes Académiques A suite, in Western classical music and jazz, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with ...

* Commander of

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

* Grand Officer of the Order of the Liberation of Egypt * Great Silver Medal of

* Vermeil Medal of the City of Paris * Great Gold Medal of the Society for Encouraging Progress * Silver Medal of the Academy of Architecture

Jardin Christiane-Desroches-Noblecourt, Paris 16e 6

In May 2016, the former garden of Place Rodin was renamed Jardin Christiane-Desroches-Noblecourt in Desroches Noblecourt's honour."The Christiane-Desroches-Noblecourt garden"

] o
www.parisrues.com

archive
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Publications

Desroches Noblecourt published dozens of books, articles, book chapters and reports throughout her career. A number of her books were translated into several languages and reprinted multiple times.

Books

*
L'art égyptien au Musée du Louvre
'. (1941). Paris: Floury *
Le style égyptien
'. (1946). Arts, styles et techniques. Paris: Larousse.
''L'ancienne Égypte: l'extraordinaire aventure amarnienne''.
(1960). Photographs by F. L. Kenett. Histoire mondiale de la sculpture. Paris: Les Deux-Mondes. *
Peintures des tombeaux et des temples égyptiens.
' (1962). Le Grand art en livre de poche. Paris: Flammarion. *
Vie et mort d'un pharaon, Toutânkhamon
'' (1963). Paris: Hatchette. *
Toutankhamon et son temps.
' (1967). Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux. *
Le grand Pharaon Ramsès II et son Temps.
' (1985). Montréal: Palais de la Civilisation Montréal.
''Les zélateurs de Mandoulis et les maîtres de Ballana et de Qustul''
(1985). Mélanges Gamal Eddin Mokhtar. Cairo: IFAO.
''La femme au temps des pharaons.''
(1986 and 2001). Paris: Stock. *
La grande Nubiade ou le parcours d'une égyptologue
'' (1992). Paris: Stock. *
Amours et fureurs de la lointaine
'' (1995). Paris: Stock. *
Ramsès II, la véritable histoire
'' (1997). Paris: Pygmalion. * ''Toutânkhamon.'' (1999). Paris'':'' Pygmalion. *
Le secret des temples de la Nubie.
' (1999). Paris: Stock. *
La reine mystérieuse: Hatshepsout
'' (2002). Paris: Pygmalion. *
Symboles de l'Égypte
'' (2004). Paris: Desclée de Brouwer. *
Le fabuleux héritage de l'Égypte
'' (2004). Paris: Télémaque. *
Le secret des découvertes
'' (2006). Paris: Télémaque. *
Ramses II: an illustrated biography
'. (2007). Paris: Flammarion.
''Gifts from the pharaohs: how Egyptian civilization shaped the modern world''.
(2007). Paris: Flammarion.

Co-authored books

* Michalowski, K., Desroches Noblecourt, C. and de Linage, J. (1950)
Tell-Edfou 1939. ''Fouilles Franco-polonaises, III.''
Cairo: IFAO. * Desroches Noblecourt, C. and de Bourguet, P. (1962).
L'art égyptien.
' Paris: PUF. * Desroches Noblecourt, C. and Kuentz, C. (1968).
Le petit temple d'Abou Simbel
', 2 vol. Cairo: Centre de documentation et d'étude sur l'ancienne Égypte. * Aldred, C, de Cenival, J-L, Debono, F., Desroches Noblecourt, C., Lauer, J-P., Leclant, J. and Vercoutter, J. (1978)
''Les Pharaons, Le temps des pyramides''
'.'' L'univers des formes, Collection Créée par André Malraur. Paris: Gallimard. * Aldred, C., Barguet, P., Desroches Noblecourt, C., Leclant, J. and Müller, H. W. (1979).
Les Pharaons, L'empire des conquérants
'. L'univers des formes, Collection Créée par André Malraur. Paris: Gallimard. * Aldred, C., Daumas, F., Desroches Noblecourt, C. and Leclant, J. (1980)
''Les Pharaons,'' ''L'Égypte du crépuscule''
'.'' L'univers des formes, Collection Créée par André Malraur. Paris: Gallimard. * Desroches Noblecourt, C. and Vercoutter, J. (1981).
Un siècle de fouilles françaises en Égypte 1880-1980
', Cairo: IFAO. * Balout, L., Roubet, C. and Desroches Noblecourt, C. (1985).
La momie de Ramsès II
'' Paris: Museum national d'histoire naturelle. * Desroches Noblecourt, C. with David, C., Franco, I., and de Tonnac, J-P (2003).
Sous le regard des dieux
'' Paris: Albin Michel.

Select articles and chapters

* Desroches, C. (1938). Un modèle de maison citadine du Nouvel Empire (Musée du Louvre No. E. 5357). ''Revue d'égyptologie'' 3, 17-25. * Desroches-Noblecourt, C. (1947)
Une coutume égyptienne méconnue
''Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale'' 45, 185-232. * Desroches Noblecourt, C. (1951). Deux grands obélisques précieux d'un sanctuaire à Karnak: les Égyptiens ont-ils érigé des obélisques d'électrum? ''Revue d'égyptologie'' 8, 47-61. * Desroches-Noblecourt, C. (1967). Exposition Toutankhamon et son temps au Petit Palais. ''Revue du Louvre: la revue des musées de France'' 17, 13-26. * Desroches Noblecourt, C. (1991). Les trois saisons du dieu et le débarcadère du ressuscité. ''Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo'' 47, 67-80. * Desroches-Noblecourt, C. (1995). A propos de la nouvelle tombe de la Vallée des Rois, ''Archéologia'' 314, 4–6 * Desroches Noblecourt, C. (1996). Les déesses et le sema-taouy. In Der Manuelian, Peter (ed.), ''Studies in honor of William Kelly Simpson'' 1, 191-197. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts. * Desroches-Noblecourt, C. (1997). La monture de l'enfant divin. In Phillips, Jacke (ed.), ''Ancient Egypt, the Aegean, and the Near East: studies in honour of Martha Rhoads Bell'' 1, 169-178. San Antonio: Van Siclen Books. * Desroches-Noblecourt, C. (2003). À propos des piliers héraldiques de Karnak: une suggestion. ''Cahiers de Karnak'' 11 (2), 387-403

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Noblecourt, Christiane Desroches French Egyptologists 1913 births 2011 deaths 20th-century French archaeologists Scientists from Paris Members of the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite Recipients of the Resistance Medal Commandeurs of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Winners of the Prix Broquette-Gonin (literature) French women archaeologists French women historians 20th-century French women scientists Abu Simbel