Venceslas Kruta (born 4 November 1939) is a French archaeologist and historian. He is the director of European protohistory studies at the

École pratique des Hautes Études École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

(EPHE), and Professor emeritus at the

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sor ...

. Kruta has also directed the Centre d'Études Celtiques in Paris and the journal ''

Études Celtiques ''Études Celtiques'' (EC) (, ''Celtic Studies'') is a French academic journal based in Paris. It started life under the name ''Revue Celtique'', which was founded in 1870 by Henri Gaidoz. Between 1870 and 1934, 52 volumes were published under th ...

,'' and has chaired the editorial board of the journal ' (

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

). Kruta specializes on the

protohistory Protohistory is a period between prehistory and history during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have already noted the existence of those pre-literate groups in their own writings. For example, in ...

of Europe, more specifically the commercial and cultural relations between

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

and the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

. He has directed numerous excavation sites, most notably the parvis of Notre-Dame and the Square Court of 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 ...

in Paris. Kruta is a member of the

German Archaeological Institute The German Archaeological Institute (german: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office of Germany ...

, the Real Academia de la Historia, the

Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi ed Italici Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi ed Italici (English: Institute for Etruscan and Italic Studies) is a cultural institution based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. It was founded in 1925 with the aim of promoting and enhancing in Italy and worldwide ...

, and the .

Biography

Venceslas Kruta was born on 4 November 1939 in

Saumur Saumur () is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. The town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgueil, Coteaux du Layon, etc.. Saumur statio ...

Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire (; ; br, Broioù al Liger) is one of the 18 regions of France, in the west of the mainland. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful of "balancing metropolises" (). ...

. He studied prehistory and archeology at

Masaryk University Masaryk University (MU) ( cs, Masarykova univerzita; la, Universitas Masarykiana Brunensis) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the se ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

between 1956 and 1961, then worked as an assistant at the

Czech Academy of Sciences The Czech Academy of Sciences (abbr. CAS, cs, Akademie věd České republiky, abbr. AV ČR) was established in 1992 by the Czech National Council as the Czech successor of the former Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and its tradition goes back ...

between 1963 and 1971. He obtained a doctorate in history from

in 1974. In 1991, he directed an international exposition on the Celts in Venice, then another in Tokyo in 1998. His 2000 book ''Les Celtes, histoire et dictionnaire'' received the Grand Prix d'Histoire from the

Académie Française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

and the from 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kruta, Venceslas 1939 births Living people 20th-century French historians 20th-century French archaeologists People from Saumur Celtic studies scholars