Eduardo Toda y Güell (9 January 1852, in

Reus Reus () is the capital of Baix Camp, in Camp de Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. The area has long been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental significance during the time of the Phylloxera plague. Currently it is known f ...

– 26 April 1941, in

Poblet Poblet Abbey, otherwise the Royal Abbey of Santa Maria de Poblet (), is a Cistercian monastery, founded in 1151, located at the foot of the Prades Mountains, in the comarca of Conca de Barberà, in Catalonia (Spain). It was founded by Cisterc ...

) was a Spanish

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end ...

and

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist, researcher, and/or well-informed collector of numismatics, numismatics/coins ("of coins"; from Late Latin , genitive of ). Numismatists can include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholar-researchers who use coi ...

Career

After studying law at the

Central University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid (, UCM; ) is a public research university located in Madrid. Founded in Alcalá in 1293 (before relocating to Madrid in 1836), it is one of the oldest operating universities in the world, and one of Spain's ...

, Eduardo was appointed Vice-Consul in

Macao Macau or Macao is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most densely populated region in the world. Formerly a Portuguese colony, the ter ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

, and

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. Subsequently, he was Consul General in

Cairo, Egypt Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

(1884-1886) and became friends with

Gaston Maspero Sir Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (23 June 1846 – 30 June 1916) was a French Egyptologist and director general of excavations and antiquities for the Egyptian government. Widely regarded as the foremost Egyptologist of his generation, he be ...

. During his post, he became very interested in ancient Egypt. While at

Deir el-Medina Deir el-Medina (), 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 Egypt (ca. 1550–1080 BC). ...

, he was responsible for clearing the intact tomb of Sennedjem in 1886. After being posted to

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

and

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

, he decided to abandon his diplomatic career and move to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He didn't return to Spain until 1918 where he created the collection and later tried to establish a school of

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Ancient Greek, Greek , ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian History of Egypt, history, Egyptian language, language, Ancient Egypt ...

. After being unsuccessful in his attempts, he moved to the where he devoted himself to the history of the

Poblet Abbey Poblet Abbey, otherwise the Royal Abbey of Santa Maria de Poblet (), is a Cistercian monastery, founded in 1151, located at the foot of the Prades Mountains, in the comarca of Conca de Barberà, in Catalonia (Spain). It was founded by Cistercia ...

. He became a professor at the School of Librarians of the Provincial Diputación of

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, a Corresponding Member of the Catalan Studies Institute and a Member of the

Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona The Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona (in Spanish ''Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona'', Royal Academy of the Good Writings of Barcelona) is a Catalan literary society, based in Barcelona. It was founded in 1729 and it has i ...

. He presented his personal library to several Catalan institutions where he gave his Numismatic collection to the

Archivo Histórico Nacional The National Historical Archive of Spain (''Archivo Histórico Nacional'') is based in Serrano Street in Madrid. It was founded in the nineteenth century when it shared a building with the Real Academía de la Historia. The collections of the A ...

in Madrid, his Egyptian collection to the

National Archaeological Museum of Spain The National Archaeological Museum (; MAN) is a archaeology museum in Madrid, Spain. It is located on Calle de Serrano beside the Plaza de Colón, sharing its building with the National Library of Spain. It is one of the National Museums of ...

, and the

Biblioteca Museu Víctor Balaguer The Biblioteca Museu Víctor Balaguer (Víctor Balaguer Museum & Library) is located in Vilanova i la Geltrú, province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and was founded in 1884 by Víctor Balaguer so as to thank the city for its support during ...

Vilanova i la Geltru Vilanova may refer to: People *Amanda Vilanova (born 1991), Puerto Rican beauty pageant title holder * Francisco Machón Vilanova, Salvadoran novelist * Galcerand de Vilanova, Bishop of Urgel and Co-Prince of Andorra * João Batista Vilanova Arti ...

Publications

* ''Macao (Recorts de viatje)'', 1877 * ''Annam and its minor currency'', 1882 * ''Poblet. Recorts de la Conca de Barberá'', 1883 * ''Sesostris'', 1886 * ''La Vida en el Celeste Imperio'', 1887 * ''La Muerte en el Antiguo Egipto'', 1887 * ''Son Notem en Tebas : Inventario y textos de un sepulcro egipcio en la XX dinastía'', 1887 * ''Catálogo de la Colección Egipcia de la Biblioteca-Museo Balaguer'', 1887 * ''Un poble català d'Itàlia: l'Alguer'', (Barcelona, 1888) *
A través del Egipto
', 1889 * Translation of

George Rawlinson George Rawlinson (23 November 1812 – 6 October 1902) was a British scholar, historian and Christian theologian. Life Rawlinson was born at Chadlington, Oxfordshire, the son of Abram Tysack Rawlinson and the younger brother of the famous A ...

's work'', Historia del Antiguo Egipto'', 1894

Biographical information

* F. Valls Taberner, "Necrología. Eduardo Toda y Güell", ''Hispania'' no.4, 1941, pp. 123–128. * J. Padró, "Édouard Toda, diplomate espagnol, érudit catalan et égyptologue du XIXe siècle", in ''Bulletin de la Société française d'égyptologie'' no.113, octobre 1988, pp. 34–41. * Ève Gran-Aymerich, "Les Chercheurs de passé", éditions du CNRS, 2007, pp. 1195–1196. * Mònica GINÉS BLASI, "Eduard Toda i Güell: From Vice-Consul of Spain in China to the Renaixença in Barcelona (1871-84)", ''ENTREMONS. Journal of World History'' (Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona) Número 5 (juny 2013).

References

Citations

Works cited

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toda, Eduardo 19th-century Spanish diplomats 20th-century Spanish historians Spanish Egyptologists 1852 births 1941 deaths 19th-century Spanish historians