Paul Gauckler

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Paul Frédéric Gauckler (born December 6, 1866 in Colmar , † December 6, 1911 in Rome ) was a French classical archaeologist and one of the archeology pioneers in Tunisia .

Life

Gauckler's father, Philippe Gaspard (1826–1905), was born in Wissembourg and was a well-known civil engineer . In 1872 the family moved to Épinal . The father brought up his son, who was already in poor health, in a very authoritarian manner. In 1882 he finished attending a high school in Nancy . Despite other professional inclinations, Gauckler was forced by his father to study natural sciences . In October 1882 he was accepted at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris , where he graduated in 1883 with a degree in natural sciences. Then Gauckler attended the humanities branch and in 1884 became the local winner of the national college competition at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand.

Due to a chronic bronchial disease, Gauckler overwintered for the first time in 1884/85 in Algiers , Algeria, for therapeutic reasons . During this stay, his real vocation for history and archeology was revealed to him and he began studying at the Ecole supérieure des Lettres d'Alger , a predecessor institution of the University of Algiers . There he was particularly motivated by the archaeologist Paul Monceaux (1859–1941) during his courses on archaeological studies.

From November 1884 he again attended the Lycée Louis-le-Grand and began as Eléve from 1886 to study history and geography at the École normal supérieure in Paris. There he was strongly influenced by the geographer Paul Vidal de la Blache (1845-1918). Gauckler successfully completed this course in 1889 with the Agrégation for History and Geography.

At the mediation of the archaeologist Georges Perrot (1832-1914) he returned to Algeria in 1890 on behalf of the French Ministry of Education. Gauckler worked for the Service des Archives, Bibliothèques et Musées d'Algérie and wrote the catalogs for the museums of Constantine and Cherchell . Near the Algerian city of Philippeville, now Skikda , he excavated a necropolis in the ancient city of Thapsus . After his time at the Algerian museums, Gauckler was appointed chief inspector of the office for Tunisian antiquities and art objects, today's Institut national du patrimoine , and was its director from 1896 as the successor to René du Coudray de La Blanchère . In 1897 he published La Blanchère, the first catalog for the inventory of the Alaoui Museum in Tunis , now the Bardo National Museum ; a supplementary volume followed in 1910. In 1902 he and his colleagues also submitted an initial inventory for the archaeological museum of Sousse . Despite all the successes, Gauckler's post as head of antiquities administration remained fraught with conflict. At a time in which amateur archeology was still often practiced, to which no limits could be set, with his high demands and despite his position he was often sidelined. With his insistence on the primacy of state preservation of monuments, the arguments with the missionary and amateur archaeologist Alfred Louis Delattre (1850-1932) were particularly prominent. The confessor of the priest, who had been living in Algeria since 1875, was the then Archbishop of Algiers, Charles Martial Lavigerie (1825-1892). On his behalf, Delattre dug and collected Christian legacies in Carthage and the surrounding area and brought them to the museum on the ancient castle hill of Byrsa , which was newly created by his order and named after St. Louis , today the National Archaeological Museum of Carthage. In addition to Lavigerie, it was also the French military doctor Louis Carton (1861-1924) who bothered Gauckler. Carton was also active as a hobby archaeologist in his spare time and was best known for excavations in Dougga . When rumors of Gauckler's homosexuality became public, he was exposed to attacks by the Tunisian press. On October 10, 1905, he resigned from his post as chief inspector as a result of his social dismantling and serious heart disease.

From 1907 he was on the road again on behalf of the French Ministry of Education. From Paris he was sent to Rome. As a member of the Académie de France à Rome , he led the excavation of the sanctuary of the Syrian gods on the Gianicolo in early 1907 . Due to continued suffering chose Gauckler 1911 suicide .

Services

During Gauckler's activity in Tunisia, he was particularly interested in excavations and research in Carthage. He was also active in Dougga, Gigthis and Bulla Regia , for example , and conducted intensive research in the Punic necropolises, Medenine , Sousse , Thugga , Uppenna and Uthina (Oudna). The Bardo National Museum in particular benefited from his research, as it received over 90 Roman mosaic floors . He also organized a new department for Islamic art there. Gauckler devoted a significant part of his work to researching the ancient water management of Tunisia. His findings on the Roman mosaics and the early Christian churches in Tunisia are also important. Many of his investigations were only possible with the help of the French army and its officers, including Georges Louis Gombeaud . In particular, the archaeological expeditions and excavations to the edge of the Sahara , which were dedicated to the Limes Tripolitanus, could only be managed logistically and calculably by the military within the set time frame and scope .

His private archive came through the archaeologist Louis Poinssot (1879-1967) to the Institut national d'histoire de l'art (National Institute for Art History) in Paris.

Memberships

Paul Gauckler was a corresponding member of the Société nationale des antiquaires de France (1895), the Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques (1895), the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1899) and the Austrian Archaeological Institute , as well as a full member of the German Archaeological Institute Institute (1902).

In addition to many other awards, Gauckler was the recipient of several medals. Thus the Ordre des Palmes Académiques (1892 officer), the Nischan el Iftikhar (1895 commander, 1899 senior officer) and the Ordre du Mérite agricole (1895). In 1901 he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor .

Publications (selection)

  • with Georges Doublet: Musée de Constantine (=  Musées et collections archéologiques de l'Algérie et de la Tunisie, Volume 2). Ernest Leroux, Paris 1892.
  • Musee de Cherchel . (=  Musées et collections archéologiques de l'Algérie et de la Tunisie Volume 4). Ernest Leroux, Paris 1895.
  • Guide du visiteur au musée du Bardo. Extrait de la Revue Tunisienne, organe de l'Institut de Carthage . Tunis 1896.
  • L'archéologie de la Tunisie . Berger-Levrault, Paris / Nancy 1896.
  • Le domaine des Laberii à Uthina . In: Monuments et mémoires publiés par l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres . Volume 3, Ernest Leroux, Paris 1896, pp. 177-229.
  • with René Du Coudray La Blanchère : Catalog du Musée Alaoui (=  Musées et collections archéologiques de l'Algerie et de la Tunisie, vol. 7). Ernest Leroux, Paris 1897.
  • Inquiries on the installations hydrauliques romaines en Tunisie . 2 volumes in 9 deliveries. Direction des antiquités et beaux-arts. Tunis 1897-1912.
  • with René Cagnat : Les temples païens (=  Les monuments historiques de la Tunisie Volume 1). Ernest Leroux, Paris 1898 ( digitized version ).
  • with Henri Saladin : La mosquée de Sidi Okba à Kairouan (=  Les monuments historiques de la Tunisie Volume 2). Ernest Leroux, Paris 1899 ( digitized version ).
  • with Ernest Gouwet, Gustave Hannezo: Musées de Sousse . (=  Musées et collections archéologiques de l'Algérie et de la Tunisie, vol. 11). Ernest Leroux, Paris 1902.
  • Rapport sur des inscriptions latines découvertes en Tunisie de 1900 à 1905. (=  Nouvelles archives des missions scientifiques et littéraires. Volume 15, part 4), Imprimerie nationale, Paris 1907 ( digitized ).
  • Afrique proconsulaire (Tunisie) (= Inventaire des mosaïques de la Gaule et de l'Afrique Volume 2). Ernest Leroux, Paris 1910 ( digitized ).
  • with Louis Poinssot, Alfred Merlin , Louis Drappier, Louis Hautecceur: Catalog du Musée Alaoui. Supplement ( Catalog des musées et collections archéologiques de l'Algerie et de la Tunisie ). Ernest Leroux, Paris 1910.

Published from the estate

  • Le sanctuaire syrien du Janicule . Auguste Picard, Paris 1912 ( digitized version ).
  • Basiliques chrétiennes de Tunisie (1892–1904) . Auguste Picard, Paris 1913.
  • Nécropoles puniques de Carthage . 2 volumes. Auguste Picard, Paris 1915 ( digitized volume 2 ).

literature

  • Dominique Anziani: Paul Gauckler . In: Mélanges d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de l'École française de Rome 31, 1911, pp. 457–458 ( digitized version ).
  • Antoine Héron de Villefosse : Éloge de Paul Gauckler . In: Bulletin archéologique du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques 1911, pp. CCXXXV – CCXXXVI.
  • Henri Omont : Éloge funèbre de M. Paul Gauckler, correspondant français de l'Académie . In: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 1911, pp. 826-827 ( digitized version ).
  • Salomon Reinach : In Paul Gauckler . In Revue archéologique Series 4, 18, 1911, pp. 458–459 ( digitized version ).
  • Georges Perrot : Gauckler (Paul-Frédérick) . In: Annuaire de l'Association amicale des anciens Élèves de l'École Normale Supérieure 1912, pp. 124–129.
  • Thibout de Morembert: Gauckler, Paul . In: Dictionnaire de biographie française Volume 15, Paris 1982, pp. 686-687.
  • Eve Gran-Aymerich: Dictionnaire biographique d'archéologie (1798–1945). CNRS éditions, Paris 2001, pp. 291-292.
  • Jacques Alexandropoulos: Paul Gauckler (1866–1911): une évocation de son passage à Tunis d'après le fonds des Archives départementales de l'Ariège . In: Pallas 56, 2001, pp. 119-137.
  • Clémentine Gutron: Gauckler, Paul . In: François Pouillon (ed.): Dictionnaire des orientalistes de langue française. Karthala, Paris 2008, ISBN 978-2-84586-802-1 , p. 425.
  • Clémentine Gutron: L'archéologie en Tunisie (XIXe – XXe siècles). Jeux généalogiques sur l'Antiquité. Hommes et sociétés. Karthala, Paris 2010, ISBN 978-2-8111-0396-5 , pp. 266-267.
  • Alessandro Teatini: Paul Gauckler . In: Stefan Heid , Martin Dennert (Hrsg.): Personal Lexicon for Christian Archeology . Researchers and personalities from the 16th to the 21st century. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-7954-2620-0 , Volume 1, pp. 556-557.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ To his excavations there Dominique Raynal: Archeologie et histoire de l'Église d'Afrique. Uppenna I. Les fouilles 1904-1907 . Presses Universitaires du Mirail, Toulouse 2006, ISBN 2-85816-806-7 .
  2. ↑ See Aurélien Caillaud: Basiliques chrétiennes de Tunisie. Un manuscrit inédit de Paul Gauckler dans le fonds Poinssot?
personal data
SURNAME Gauckler, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gauckler, Paul-Frédéric (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French archaeologist
DATE OF BIRTH December 6, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Colmar
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1911
Place of death Rome