Émilie CAVANNA, Céline BERTHENET, Danièle LECHELON THÉODORE VACQUER (1824-1899) pioneer of urban archaeology and figure of historic Paris

Abstract

Between 1846 and 1898, the state and the city of Paris respectively commissioned Théodore Vacquer to watch over demolition work during Haussmann’s major rebuilding. An architect by training and solitary by nature, Vacquer is behind most of the archaeological discoveries in Paris during the second half of the 19th century. His hand-written notes – the Vaquer Papers – remain to this day an invaluable source of information for Parisian archaeology. Within the framework of the new online archaeological map of Paris, archival and genealogical research has shed light on his career and private life, certain aspects of which were hitherto little-known.

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