FRENCH LANGUAGE
During the 19th century, archaeology found itself at the heart of new political and scientific issues. The archaeological excavations undertaken at the instigation of Napoleon III adopted a very different approach from those carried out by the "antique dealers" of the previous century.
Napoleon III intended to follow in Julius Caesar's footsteps and the Commission of Topography of the Gauls was officially invested on July 17, 1858. It undertakes, or subsidizes, until 1879 numerous works to identify archaeological sites in the field.
In 1861, Napoleon III acquired the Farnese Gardens on the Palatine Hill in Rome and began archaeological excavations.
In France as in Italy, surveys, photographs, reports, prints are the witnesses (today dispersed) of an intense activity which lays the foundations of a scientific archaeology.
This catalog aims to give an account of this scientific momentum, from its genesis to its legacy, by focusing on the varied and innovative means of documentation and dissemination that were then employed.
Exhibition at the Musée d'Archéologie nationale from September 19, 2020 to January 3, 2021.
French language
192 pages / 125 illustrations
Rmn - Grand Palais Publishing
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