Indochina's archaeological heritage on display in France

Virtual Visions of Angkor : Plaster casts and Drawings in the Indochinese Museum of
Trocadero (1878-1925)
Pierre Baptiste (Curator, Musée Guimet Paris)
The Indochinese Museum of Trocadero was initiated by Louis Delaporte in 1878 in
the effervescence of the Paris World Fair. At a time when the richness and antiquity
of the Khmer Civilisation was still under considered by most of the Europeans, the
aim of this unique institution was to give the most complete image of an unknown
culture, introducing the public to the main aspects of urbanism, architecture and
sculpture of ancient Cambodia.
The subject of this paper is to show how the plaster casts and architectural drawings
that were added to the collection of original sculptures of this museum were
conceived in a classical European spirit that gave birth to an idealized – and
sometimes dreamed – vision of Khmer archaeology.
Image left: Louis Delaporte, Ideal view of the Northern Part of the Royal Palace of
Angkor Thom, ink and colours on paper, Musée Guimet
Image right: Anonymous, View of the “Bayon tower” in the Indochinese Museum of
the Trocadero, photography on paper, Musée Guimet

Biographical information
Curator in charge of Southeast Asia in Musee Guimet since 1996, Pierre Baptiste has
re-organised the Khmer, Thai, Burmese, Javanese and Vietnamese exhibition
galleries of the museum. Specialist of the arts and civilisations of the Indochinese
peninsula, he organised exhibitions with Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. As a
teacher, he gave lectures in the Faculty of Archaeology of Phnom Penh, and now in
the Ecole du Louvre in Paris. He is involved in cooperation projects in Vietnam with
the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Bibliography (since 2001, selection)
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2001
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tome 58, 2003, pp.168-176
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Paris, 2004
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catalogue)
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