Melchior de Vogüé


Charles-Jean-Melchior de Vogüé was a French archaeologist, diplomat, and member of the Académie française in seat 18.

Biography

Born in Paris as the eldest son of Léonce de Vogüé, Melchior de Vogüé was schooled at the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr and at the École Polytechnique. In 1849 was he attached to the French Embassy in St. Petersburg.
After his father's arrest during the French coup of 1851, de Vogüé gave up diplomacy to focus on archaeology and history in Syria and Palestine. Named as a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1868, he continued to publish scholarly journal articles on churches in the Holy Land, the Temple of Jerusalem, and Central Syria.
After the fall of the Second French Empire, President Adolphe Thiers appointed him as Ambassador of France to Constantinople in 1871, then to Vienna in 1875.

Family

Melchior de Vogüé was the uncle of fellow academician Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé, who served concurrently for a few years in seat 39 from 1888.

Works