Frédéric DuBois de Montperreux

Frédéric DuBois de Montperreux (28 May 1798 – 7 May 1850) was a Swiss traveller and antiquarian.

Life and career

Born in Môtiers, he was the son of a merchant. Educated in Neuchâtel, he soon moved to Courland and Lithuania. In 1829–31, he studed at the University of Berlin studied under classical scholar August Boeckh, geographer Carl Ritter, geologist Leopold von Buch, and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt.[1]

He travelled alone to the southern regions of the Russian Empire in 1833–34 on an exploratory journey, thereafter completing the six-volume Voyage Autour du Caucase (1839–43).[1][2][3] He taught archaeology at the Neuchâtel Academy starting in 1838. He excavated and took an interest in medieval monuments. He died in Peseux.[1]

Legacy

His travelogue to the Caucasus introduced the monuments of the region to modern Europe.[2] It is regarded as an important early scholarly publication on Armenian architecture.[4] Christina Maranci wrote that Dubois was "the first westerner to identify an Armenian style of architecture" and that his work earn Dubois "the most significant position in the nineteenth-century scholarship on Armenian architecture."[2]

His views on Georgian architecture has received mixed reception. He believed Georgians were "loyal copyists" of the Armenians,[2] prompting some scholars to dismiss his views.[2] The Georgian Encyclopedia notes that Georgian art historians have refuted his "erroneous theory" that saw the Georgian style as a branch or reflection of Byzantine and Armenian architecture.[3]

The Georgian Encyclopedia describes him as "the first Western European researcher of the geological structure of Georgia and the entire Caucasus."[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Knoepfler, Denis [in French] (14 February 2006). "FrédéricDuBois de Montperreux" (in French). Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences. Archived from the original on 17 August 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e Maranci, Christina (1998). Medieval Armenian Architecture in historiography: Josef Strygowski and His Legacy (PhD thesis). Princeton University. pp. 12–20. OCLC 40827094.
  3. ^ a b c Beridze, V.; Javrishvili, V. "Dubois de Montpéreux". georgianencyclopedia.ge. Georgian National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on 27 February 2026.
  4. ^ Baraničová, Michaela (2023). "On the road to Etchmiadzin: The Mother Church, St. Hripsime, St. Gayane, Shoghakat" (Master's thesis). Masaryk University. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 December 2025.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.