Christiane Desroches Noblecourt

Christiane Desroches Noblecourt (kʁistjan dɛʁɔʃ nɔbləkuʁ; 17 November 1913 – 23 June 2011) was a French Egyptologist. She was the author of many books on Egyptian art and history and was also known for her role in the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia from flooding caused by the Aswan Dam. She was born Christiane Desroches on 17 November 1913, in Paris, daughter of Louis Desroches (lawyer) and Madeleine Girod. In 1922 she was fascinated by Howard Carter’s discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, and encouraged by priest and scholar, Father Étienne Drioton, she joined the Egyptian Antiquities department at the Louvre. She studied Egyptology at École du Louvre and received a Diploma in Archaeology in 1935 under Étienne Drioton and Charles Boreux. In 1937, she received her PhD in philology from the École Pratique des Hautes études of the Sorbonne, under Gustave Lefebvre, Alexandre Moret and Raymond Weill. She was the first woman to be a fellow of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology (IFAO), and was also the first woman to lead an archaeological dig, in 1938. She excavated at the IFAO sites at Edfu, Deir el-Medina, Medamud and Karnak North from 1938 to 1940. In 1940, during World War II, she returned to Paris and joined the Resistance, hiding the Louvre's Egyptian treasures in free areas of France. In December 1940, she was arrested at Moulins but was freed after three days. In 1942, she married André Noblecourt, an engineer, and later security advisor to the national museums of France, International Council of Museums (ICOM) and UNESCO. They had one son. She died on 23 June 2011 at 97. She is buried in Mondement-Montgivroux cemetery in France. International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia Desroches Noblecourt was a leading figure in the campaign for the preservation of ancient Nubian temples from flooding caused by the new Aswan High Dam. With the existing dam's capacity not meeting the needs of Egypt's ever-growing population, in 1954 the government of Gamal Abdel Nasser decided to build a new dam.