Collections

Photolibrary Collections

The EFEO's collection of photographs and glass plates constitutes an exceptional documentary resource (archaeology, statuary, architecture, epigraphy, ethnography, etc.) covering many different countries (Cambodia, Vietnam, India, China, Thailand, Laos, etc.). Based on photographs taken during archaeological excavations and expeditions carried out by the School since 1910, the collection gradually expanded thanks to a number of gifts (the Dalet, Bacot, Boulbet, and Bénisti holdings, among others). The photographs, most of them as yet unpublished, will all eventually be digitised.

The photographic collection is of major historic interest. Some of the images feature archaeological sites and monuments before they suffered the irreparable effects of war and pillage; used in conjunction with diaries from archaeological excavations, they make it possible to recreate the way in which restoration work and research was conducted on a day-to-day basis.

Some figures:

  • CAMBODIA: 30,000 indexed digital photos (archaeology, architecture, statuary, iconography, epigraphy, ethnography, etc.);
  • VIETNAM: approximately 7,000 photos (archaeology, iconography, museum collections, etc.) as well as 1,500 indexed digital photos of the Champa region;
  • CHINA: approximately 3,000 photos (archaeology, ethnology, art, museography, graphic documents, etc.);
  • INDIA: several thousand photos;
  • LAOS: 3,000 photos, of which approximately 1,200 dealing with ethnology;
  • SIAM: approximately 2,000 photos (archaeology, various sites, museum collections, etc.)
  • 7,000 glass plates - mostly of Cambodia and Vietnam - have been digitised (the H. Marchal, H. Parmentier, J. Bacot, L. Finot, Ch. Carpeaux collections).
EFEO News
New publication
Kyoto,

Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, vol. 31 (2022)
New Perspectives for Chinese History?
Local Society and Archives


Read more
EFEO Java-Bali Palmleaf Manuscripts Digitisation Project
London, United_Kingdom, 10 July 2023
Read the article "EFEO Java-Bali Palmleaf Manuscripts Digitisation Project" about the collaboration between the EFEO and the British Library on the digitisation of the complete collection of 70 palm-leaf manuscripts from Java and Bali, written in Old Javanese, Javanese and Balinese.
Study day
Paris, France, 30 June 2023

The CRCAO and the EFEO organize a study day on Échanges artistiques entre l'Asie de l'Est et l'Occident, d'hier et d'aujourd'hui (fin du XIXe s.- début du XXIe s.) [Artistic exchanges between East Asia and the West, past and present (late 19th c. - early 21st c.)] with the support of the IRHiS-Université de Lille and Sciencescope Japon.

From 9:45 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., in the Grand Salon of the Maison de l'Asie.

Programme

Annual EFEO-Faculty of Archaeology Seminar
Bangkok, Thailand, 29 June 2023

On June 29, as part of the Annual EFEO-Faculty of Archaeology Seminar on "Inscriptions, manuscrits et archéologie en Asie du Sud-Est [Inscriptions, manuscripts, and archaeology in Southeast Asia]," at Silpakorn University in Bangkok, the following spoke for the EFEO:

Gregory Kourilsky gives a talk entitled "Relative Dating of a Code of Law from Luang Prabang (Laos)"

Christophe Pottier gives a talk entitled "Archaeology beyond monumentality: some recent works in Cambodia"

Dominique Soutif gives a talk entitled "Continuing the K. Number inventory"

Lecture-debate
Tokyo, Japan, 27 June 2023

From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., the EFEO Centres in Tokyo and in Kyoto are co-organising with the French Institute for Research on Japan (UMIFRE 19 MEAE-CNRS), at the Maison franco-japonaise in Tokyo, a lecture-debate on the topic "Vingt-deux ans à la tête du musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac" [Twenty-two years at the head of the musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac], with Stéphane Martin (former president of the musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac) and Ozawa Kei (University of Tokyo), moderated by François Lachaud (EFEO).

Participation on registration