Louis Delaporte
Louis Delaporte (born January 11, 1842 in Loches , † May 3, 1925 in Paris ) was a French researcher. As a companion of Ernest Doudart de Lagrée , he located Angkor's position in what is now Cambodia in the 19th century and ultimately made the art and architecture of the Khmer known in Europe.
Early years
Louis Delaporte was the son of a lawyer and went to sea at a very young age with his father's approval. He left the Collège Orleans and in 1858 at the Naval Academy in Brest . In 1860 he was taken on as a midshipman and sent to Mexico . After various expeditions, u. a. in Iceland , he became a lieutenant at sea .
Because of his drawing skills, Delaporte was sent to Cochin in 1866 , where he accompanied Ernest Doudart de Lagrée on his mission to explore the Mekong . Here he discovered the ruins of the ancient Khmer city of Angkor. The expedition ended in a catastrophe because of the climatic conditions: Doudart de Lagrée lost his life and one had to reach the sea via Xieng Khouang on the Yangtze . Francis Garnier led the group back to Saigon by sea .
Preservation of Angkor
Delaporte was so impressed by the ruins of Angkor that he compared them and the empire for which they were created to ancient Egypt . From now on he devoted his life to researching and preserving Angkor. In 1868 he returned to France, where he was awarded the Legion of Honor .
After an interlude on the occasion of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 , he began a new mission in 1873 with the help of the Navy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education to explore the navigability of the Red River as far as Yunnan . Here, with the greatest difficulty, he assembled the first collection of Khmer art in France. He also made accurate drawings of stone witnesses in Bayon and Angkor Vat .
After the hundreds of boxes landed in the port of Toulon , Delaporte experienced a great disappointment, because the Louvre refused to exhibit the strange works of art. Delaporte therefore brought them to the Compiègne Castle , where he opened a small exhibition. It was not until 1878, on the occasion of the world exhibition in Paris, that a larger collection was shown in the Trocadéro and it was not until 1882 that an official museum of Khmer art was established there.
In 1881 Delaporte went on one last trip to Southeast Asia, but an illness forced him to return to France, but not without a rich yield of further works of art for the collection. In 1889 the museum opened in the Trocadéro to the art of all of Southeast Asia . Delaporte also supported the further work in French Indochina : In 1898 the École française d'Extrême-Orient and in 1918 the Conservatory in Phnom Penh , which was directed by Georges Groslier , was founded.
Delaporte remained director of the Museum of Southeast Asian Art in 1924. He died on May 3, 1925 in Paris.
According to his notes:
- "Voyage au Cambodge: L'architecture khmer" (Broché).
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Delaporte, Louis |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French explorer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 11, 1842 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Loches |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 3, 1925 |
| Place of death | Paris |