The Institut français d'archéologie orientale (or IFAO), also known as the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo, is a French research institute based in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, dedicated to the study of the

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 landscap ...

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 languages of the various periods of Egypt's civilisation. The IFAO is under the authority of the French Ministry for National Education, Advanced Instruction, and Research. The Institute conducts archaeological excavations and also publishes a number of books and journals.

History

The IFAO was created on 28 December 1880 by a signed decree of the French Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts

Jules Ferry Jules François Camille Ferry (; 5 April 183217 March 1893) was a French statesman and republican philosopher. He was one of the leaders of the Moderate Republicans and served as Prime Minister of France from 1880 to 1881 and 1883 to 1885. He ...

, which created a permanent Mission in

, intended as a counterpart in Egypt of the

French School at Athens The French School at Athens (french: École française d’Athènes, EfA; el, Γαλλική Σχολή Αθηνών ''Gallikí Scholí Athinón'') is one of the seventeen foreign archaeological institutes operating in Athens, Greece. History ...

(Ecole française d'Athènes) and French School of Rome (Ecole française de Rome), under the name of French School of Cairo (École française du Caire). The School adopted its current name of Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale in 1898. In 1907, the IFAO moved into Mounira Palace. In 1929, a restoration of the building is undertaken, which includes the replacement of the art nouveau decoration on the façade with neo-classical. Since February 2011, the IFAO has been a part of the network, Écoles françaises à l’étranger (EFE), made of five higher education and research establishments. The other four establishments are École française d'Athènes (French School in Athens), École française de Rome (French School in Rome), École française d’Extrême-Orient (French School of the Far East), and Casa de Velázquez, Madrid.

Administration

Directors

* 1880–1881:

Gaston Maspero Sir Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (23 June 1846 – 30 June 1916) was a French Egyptologist known for popularizing the term "Sea Peoples" in an 1881 paper. Maspero's son, Henri Maspero, became a notable sinologist and scholar of East Asia. ...

* 1881–1883: Eugène Lefébure * 1883–1886:

Eugène Grébaut Eugène Grébaut (1846 – 8 January 1915) was a French Egyptologist. Grébaut made significant discoveries in the complex of mortuary temples and tombs located at Deir el-Bahari including several Egyptian mummies of the twenty-first Dynast ...

* 1886–1898:

Urbain Bouriant Urbain Bouriant (11 April 1849 – 19 June 1903) was a French Egyptologist, who discovered the Gospel of Peter in a tomb at Akhmim. He is best known from his translation of Al-Maqrizi, published as ''Description topographique et historique de l'Eg ...

* 1898–1912: Émile Chassinat * 1912 Mgr

Louis Duchesne Louis Marie Olivier Duchesne (; 13 September 1843 – 21 April 1922) was a French priest, philologist, teacher and a critical historian of Christianity and Roman Catholic liturgy and institutions. Life Descended from a family of Breton sailors, ...

* 1912–1914:

Pierre Lacau Pierre Lacau (25 November 1873 – 26 March 1963) was a French Egyptologist and philologist. He served as Egypt's director of antiquities from 1914 until 1936, and oversaw the 1922 discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the King ...

* 1914–1928:

Georges Foucart Georges Foucart (11 December 1865, Paris – 1943) was a French historian and Egyptologist. He was the son of archaeologist Paul Foucart (1836–1926), a professor of ancient Greek studies at the Collège de France. From 1898 to 1906, he was a ...

* 1928–1940:

Pierre Jouguet Pierre Jouguet (14 May 1869 – 9 July 1949) was a French Egyptologist and classical philologist. In 1890 he studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, obtaining his agrégation for grammar in 1893. For three years thereafter he was assoc ...

* 1940–1953: Charles Kuentz * 1953–1959:

Jean Sainte-Fare Garnot Jean Sainte-Fare Garnot (26 July 1908 – 20 June 1963) was a French Egyptologist. He was director of the Institut français d'archéologie orientale from 1953 to 1959, professor in Sorbonne, director of studies at the École pratique des hautes é ...

* 1959–1969:

François Daumas François Felix Eugene Daumas (3 January 1915 - 6 October 1984) was a French Egyptologist who was director of the Institut français d'archéologie orientale The Institut français d'archéologie orientale (or IFAO), also known as the French Inst ...

* 1969–1976:

Serge Sauneron Serge Sauneron (3 January 1927 – 3 June 1976) was a French Egyptologist. He was Director of the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale The Institut français d'archéologie orientale (or IFAO), also known as the French Institute for Orient ...

* 1977–1981:

Jean Vercoutter Jean Vercoutter (20 January 1911 – 16 July 2000) was a French Egyptologist. One of the pioneers of archaeological research into Sudan from 1953, he was Director of the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale from 1977 to 1981. Biography Bo ...

* 1981–1989:

Paule Posener-Kriéger Paule Violette Posener-Kriéger (18 April 1925 - 11 May 1996) was a French Egyptologist who was director of the Institut français d'archéologie orientale from 1981 to 1989. While in Abusir, she excavated the pyramid complex of Neferefre where she ...

* 1989–1999:

Nicolas Grimal Nicolas-Christophe Grimal (born 13 November 1948 in Libourne) is a French Egyptologist. Biography Nicolas Grimal was born to Pierre Grimal in 1948. After his Agrégation in Classics in 1971, he obtained a PhD in 1976 and a Doctorat d'État in ...

* 1999–2005:

Bernard Mathieu Bernard Mathieu (born 11 January 1959) is a French Egyptologist who was director of the Institut français d'archéologie orientale The Institut français d'archéologie orientale (or IFAO), also known as the French Institute for Oriental Archae ...

* 2005–2010: Laure Pantalacci * 2010–2015: Béatrix Midant-Reynes * 2015–2019: Laurent Bavay * Since 2019: Laurent Coulon

Head of Scientific and Technical Relations

Jean-Pierre Corteggiani Jean-Pierre Corteggiani (1942 – 15 March 2022) was a French Egyptologist. Career In 1993, a dyke was to be built on the alleged site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. A rescue operation was entrusted to Jean-Yves Empereur and Jean-Pierre Cor ...

Recent IFAO archaeological excavations

:''This section originally from French Wikipedia article: Fouille archéologique en Égypte * Abu Roash, directed by

Michel Baud Michel Baud (11 November 1963 – 13 September 2012) was a French Egyptologist, head of the Nubian Sudan section in the Department of Egyptian Antiquities of the Louvre Museum. As such, he was the organizer of an exhibition devoted exclusively to M ...

::25 March - 28 April 2004 (10th expedition) *Adaima ::1 November - 15 December 2003 (15th expedition) *'Ayn-Manawir (

Kharga Oasis The Kharga Oasis (Arabic: , ) ; Coptic: ( "Oasis of Hib", "Oasis of Psoi") is the southernmost of Egypt's five western oases. It is located in the Western Desert, about 200 km (125 miles) to the west of the Nile valley. "Kharga" or ...

) ::4 October - 28 December 2003 ::7 October 2005 - 7 January 2006 *'Ayn Soukhna, in collaboration with the Egyptian

Supreme Council of Antiquities The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) was a department of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture from 1994 to 2011. It was the government body responsible for the conservation, protection and regulation of all antiquities and archaeological excavatio ...

::4 January - 8 February 2004 *

Bahariya Oasis El-Wahat el-Bahariya or el-Bahariya ( ar, الواحات البحرية "''El-Wāḥāt El-Baḥrīya''", "the Northern Oases"); is a Depression (geology), depression and a naturally rich oasis in the Western Desert (Egypt), Western Desert of Egypt ...

, directed by Frederic Hake ::27 March - 18 May 2004 *Balat ('Ayn-Asil,

Dakhla Oasis Dakhla Oasis (Egyptian Arabic: , , "''the inner oasis"''), is one of the seven oases of Egypt's Western Desert. Dakhla Oasis lies in the New Valley Governorate, 350 km (220 mi.) from the Nile and between the oases of Farafra and Khar ...

) ::20 December 2003 - 4 May 2004 *Baouit ::11–29 September 2003 *

, on the Ayyoubide Wall (

mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

) ::12 April - 12 June 2003 ::7 October - 22 November 2003 ::26 April - 15 June 2004 *

Deir el-Bahri Deir el-Bahari or Dayr al-Bahri ( ar, الدير البحري, al-Dayr al-Baḥrī, the Monastery of the North) is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, Egypt. This is a part of ...

, with Nathalie Beaux-Grimal *

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 ...

Dendera Dendera ( ar, دَنْدَرة ''Dandarah''; grc, Τεντυρις or Τεντυρα; Bohairic cop, ⲛⲓⲧⲉⲛⲧⲱⲣⲓ, translit=Nitentōri; Sahidic cop, ⲛⲓⲧⲛⲧⲱⲣⲉ, translit=Nitntōre), also spelled ''Denderah'', ancient ...

, conducted by Sylvie Cauville ::27 September - 25 October 2003 * Ermant (temple of

Montu Montu was a falcon-god of war in ancient Egyptian religion, an embodiment of the conquering vitality of the pharaoh.Hart, George, ''A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses'', Routledge, 1986, . p. 126. He was particularly worshipped in Upper ...

), by Christophe Tiers ::12–15 December 2003 *

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construct ...

-North (Treasury of

Thutmose I Thutmose I (sometimes read as Thutmosis or Tuthmosis I, Thothmes in older history works in Latinized Greek; Ancient Egyptian: '' ḏḥwtj- ms'', ''Tʼaḥawtī-mīsaw'', , meaning "Thoth is born") was the third pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of E ...

) ::November 2003 - February 2004 *Ouadi Sannour, directed by François Briois and Béatrix Midant-Reynes ::2014 to present *Qal' At Al-Guindi ::17 February-6 March 2004 *the temple of Qasr Al- Aguz ::April 2001, carried out by Pr Claude Traunecker (1st expedition) ::10 April 2004 - 29 April 2004 (4th expedition) *

Saqqara Saqqara ( ar, سقارة, ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. ...

-South, directed by Vassil Dobrev ::8 October 2003 - 30 December 2003 *

Tebtunis Tebtunis was a city and later town in Lower Egypt. The settlement was founded in approximately 1800 BCE by the Twelfth Dynasty king Amenemhat III. It was located in what is now the village of Tell Umm el-Baragat in the Faiyum Governorate. In Teb ...

(in the

Fayum Faiyum ( ar, الفيوم ' , borrowed from cop, ̀Ⲫⲓⲟⲙ or Ⲫⲓⲱⲙ ' from egy, pꜣ ym "the Sea, Lake") is a city in Middle Egypt. Located southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, it is the capital of the modern Faiyum ...

), joint mission with the

University of Milan The University of Milan ( it, Università degli Studi di Milano; la, Universitas Studiorum Mediolanensis), known colloquially as UniMi or Statale, is a public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Europe ...

::1994 (1st expedition) ::25 August - 30 October 2003 *in the area of Aïn Soukhna, joint with the University Paris IV-Sorbonne *

Tanis Tanis ( grc, Τάνις or Τανέως ) or San al-Hagar ( ar, صان الحجر, Ṣān al-Ḥaǧar; egy, ḏꜥn.t ; ; cop, ϫⲁⲛⲓ or or ) is the Greek name for ancient Egyptian ''ḏꜥn.t'', an important archaeological site in the ...

*Tinnîs, in collaboration with the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

expedition of the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

::5–17 April 2004 *El Tôd, carried out by Christophe Thiers (6th expedition) ::15 November - 11 December 2003 *

Tuna el-Gebel Tuna el-Gebel ( ar, تونة الجبل, cop, ⲑⲱⲛⲓ) was the necropolis of Khmun ( Hermopolis Magna). It is the largest known Greco-Roman necropolis in Egypt, dating from the New Kingdom to the Roman Period, and seeing heavy use in the ...

(Tomb of Petosiris), by Jean-Pierre Corteggiani

Publications

The Institute has a library containing more than 80,000 volumes, and also publishes a variety of books and journals. The IFAO's scientific members belong to two sections: the first studies ancient Egyptian and papyrological matters, while the second studies the

Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet ...

and

Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...

periods. Journals and book series of the IFAO include: * ''Annales islamologiques'' (AnIsl) * ''Bibliothèque d'études'' * ''Bulletin critique des Annales islamologiques'' (BCAI) * ''Bulletin de la céramique égyptienne'' (BCE) * ''

Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale The ''Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale'' or BIFAO is a scientific journal containing scholarly articles pertaining to the study of Egyptology. Articles cover a range of disciplines, including history, art history, archaeo ...

'' (BIFAO) * ''Cahiers des Annales islamologiques'' (CAI) * ''Cahiers de la céramique égyptienne'' (CCE) * ''Documents de fouilles de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale'' (DFIFAO) * ''Études alexandrines'' * ''Études urbaines'' * ''Fouilles de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale'' (FIFAO) * ''Mémoires publiés par les membres de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale'' (MIFAO) * ''Mémoires publiés par les membres de la Mission archéologique française du Caire'' (MMAF) * ''Paléographie hiéroglyphique'' * ''Publications du Service des antiquités de l'Égypte et de l'Ifao'' (PIFAO) * ''Recherches d'archéologie, de philologie et d'histoire'' (RAPH) * ''Répertoire chronologique d'épigraphie arabe'' (RCEA) * ''Textes arabes et études islamiques'' * ''Temples ptolémaïques'' * ''Textes et traductions d'auteurs orientaux'' (TTA) * ''Voyageurs occidentaux en Égypte''

References

External links

*
MacScribe
(IFAO's hieroglyphic text processing software) {{DEFAULTSORT:Institut Francais d'Archeologie Orientale 1880 establishments in Egypt Research institutes in Egypt Archaeological research institutes International research institutes Egyptology Institut Français