Félix Marie Charles Texier (22 August 1802,

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

– 1 July 1871,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was a French historian, architect and

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

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

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

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

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

and

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

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

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

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

Fréjus Fréjus (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Var (department), Var Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It neighbours Saint-Raphaël, Var, Saint-Raphaël ...

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

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

Hattusa Hattusa, also Hattuşa, Ḫattuša, Hattusas, or Hattusha, was the capital of the Hittites, Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age during two distinct periods. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey (originally Boğazköy) within the great ...

. 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, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

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

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

at the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

, and in 1845 relocated to

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

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

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres The () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the . The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres). History ...

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 (; ) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Sel ...

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), 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 () 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 :fr:Special:Statistics, encyclopedia artic ...

, 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 19th-century 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 Explorers of West Asia Hattusa