Beulé's grave at the in Paris">Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris
Charles Ernest Beulé (29 June 1826 – 4 April 1874) was a French
archaeologist and
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
.
Biography
Born at
Saumur,
Maine-et-Loire, he was educated at the
École Normale
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
, and after having held the professorship of
rhetoric at
Moulins for a year, was sent to
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
in 1851 as one of the professors in the
École Française there.
He had the good fortune to discover the ''
propylaea'' of the
acropolis, and his work, ''L'Acropole d'Athènes'' was published by order of the minister of public instruction. On his return to France, promotion and distinctions followed rapidly upon his first successes. He was made doctor of letters, ''
chevalier
Chevalier may refer to:
Honours Belgium
* a rank in the Belgian Order of the Crown
* a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold
* a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold II
* a title in the Belgian nobility
France
* a rank in the French Legion d'h ...
'' of the
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
, professor of archaeology at the
Bibliothèque Impériale, member of the
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigr ...
, and perpetual secretary of the
Académie des Beaux-Arts
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...
.
He took great interest in political affairs, with which the last few years of his life were entirely occupied. Elected a member of the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...
in 1871, he zealously supported the
Orleanist party. Between May and November 1873 he was
Minister of the Interior
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
in the
Broglie ministry.
He committed
suicide on 4 April 1874, aged 47.
Works
His other important works are: ' (2nd edition 1875); ' (published in 1858); ' (published in 1860); and ' (published in 1861).
Beulé was also the author of high-class popular works on artistic and historical subjects: ''Histoire de l'art grec avant Pericles'', the second edition of which was published in 1870, and ' published in four parts between 1867 and 1870.
References
Attribution:
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beule, Charles Ernest
1826 births
1874 deaths
People from Saumur
Politicians from Pays de la Loire
Orléanists
French interior ministers
Members of the National Assembly (1871)
French archaeologists
French numismatists
Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
French politicians who committed suicide
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
1870s suicides