Director

Nicolas Fiévé

Nicolas FIÉVÉ

directeur@efeo.net

Assistant to the Director
Loane Dimet
loane.dimet@efeo.net

22, avenue du Président Wilson
75116 Paris
Tél : +33 01 53 70 18 60
Fax : +33 01 53 70 87 60

 

Nicolas Fiévé

Architectural historian - Medieval and premodern Japan

After studying architecture in France and Japan, and obtaining a doctorate in classical Japanese, Nicolas Fiévé was a researcher at the CNRS from 1993 to 2007, when he became professor at the Historical and Philological Sciences Section of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, where he teaches the history of Japanese architecture and gardens. 

His research is based on the study of ancient documents (literary and administrative texts, technical manuals, plans and maps) relating to architecture, urbanism, landscape and gardens in 14th-17th century Japan. In addition to the study of texts, Nicolas Fiévé also conducts in situ studies of ancient buildings or urban districts in Japan. These two complementary approaches are the fruit of the two schools of thought that trained him: Japanese studies and architecture.

As a medievalist working on the Muromachi period (1336-1573), Nicolas Fiévé has studied the history of the city of Kyoto, the architecture of the tea pavilions and the Ashikaga palaces. Recently, he has broadened his field of study to include 17th-century Japan and has focused his research on the secondary villas of the court nobility and the domain lords. 

Member of the EFEO, from 2009 to 2010

Director of the EFEO, since April 2022

CV of Nicolas Fiévé

EFEO News
Les Écoles françaises à l’étranger : formation et recherche à l’international
Paris, France, 01 December 2025

The Écoles françaises à l’étranger (EFE), five public institutions under the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Space organised as a network, offer students and researchers multiple opportunities to develop international field research in all areas of the humanities and social sciences.

Join the réseux des EFE on Monday 1 December from 5.30pm at the ENS in Paris, Dussane Room.

Library
Paris, France, 19 November 2025
The EFEO library in Paris is open at its usual times, from Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm.
Please make your book reservation requests via the catalogue, and your archive consultation requests via the form on https://archives.efeo.fr/ (bottom left of the home page).

Consult the catalogs and digital tools:
Books and periodicals catalog
- Archives and manuscripts catalog
- Digital heritage library

Please check the EFEO's Facebook page and Twitter account regularly for any updates to the conditions of public access.
inauguration of the ''Fudan-EFEO Centre for Humanities''
Shanghai, Chine, 17 November 2025
The inauguration of the new EFEO Centre, the "Fudan-EFEO Centre for Humanities", on the campus of Fudan University took place on 17 November 2025 in the presence of Nicolas Fiévé, Director of the EFEO, Guillaume Dutournier, Head of the new centre, representatives of the French Embassy in China and several colleagues from the School. They were welcomed by Mr. Chen Zhimin, Vice-President of Fudan, Mr. Ge Zhaoguang, Director of the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Fudan, and Ms. Lu Li'an.
Meeting
Hanoi, Vietnam, 13 November 2025
On November 13, 2025, Nicolas Fiévé had the pleasure of meeting with Professor Lê Văn Lợi, President of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences.
Signing of a new collaboration agreement
Hanoi, Vietnam, 12 November 2025
On November 12, 2025, Nicolas Fiévé traveled to Hanoi to meet with Rector Hoàng Anh Tuấn of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and sign a new collaboration agreement.