1928 Marchal Map of Angkor Temple Complex, Cambodia, and Guidebook

Archeological guidebook to Angkor Wat.

This is Henri Marchal's landmark 1928 guidebook Guide Archéologique aux Temples d'Angkor. At over 200 pages, Marchal, then the official conservator of Angkor, provides detailed information about each temple, as well as the Royal Palace and other sites throughout the complex. Photographs and plans of the temples appear within the text. Three fold out maps are appended in the back. These include a road map of Cambodia, a map of the entire complex, and a plan of the Bayon temple.

Publication History and Census

This guidebook was written by Henri Marchal and published by Les Éditions G. Van Oest of Paris and Brussels in 1928. It is well represented in institutional collections.

Cartographer

Henri Marchal (June 24, 1876 - April 10, 1970) was a French architect, explorer, archaeologist, and philologist. Born in Paris, Marchal first encountered Angkor at a young age, when he attended the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris and was enchanted by a cast of the Angkor temple. This encounter led him to seek out all the information about Angkor he could find and gave him a determination to help save the temples. After graduating from high school in 1895, Marchal enrolled as an architecture student at the École des Beaux Arts de Paris. After finishing his architecture studies, Marchal applied to be a building inspector in Indochina, and by October 4, 1904, he was an architect in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and was named a building inspector in Cambodia in 1905. He passed a Khmer language exam in 1910, which meant he could read and interpret inscriptions at ancient sites. Marchal became part of the École Française d'Extrême Orient (EFEO) before 1910. Marchal became Conservator of the Angkor Temples in May 1916 to replace Jean Commaille, the first Conservator, who had been murdered a month earlier. Marchal stepped down as Conservator of Angkor to become the Director of the Archaeological Service of the EFEO in 1933 after Henri Parmentier stepped down from that position. Marchal left Cambodia in 1938 and returned to France, where he spent the entirety of World War II at his family home in Meudon. He returned to Angkor in 1947 and once again became the Conservator of Angkor at the age of 71. He remained Conservator until 1953, when he stepped down. He was not replaced until 1960. After retiring as the Conservator of Angkor, Marchal was named the technical advisor to the historical monuments department in the Kingdom of Laos, a position he held from 1954 until 1957. He finally retired in 1957 and decided to remain in Siem Reap, the closest city to his beloved Angkor, where he died in 1970. Marchal married Mary Gerny, who died in 1944 while the couple was in France during World War II. Henri and Mary had one daughter, Sappho Marchal-Brebion (1904 - 2000), who spent much of her life in Cambodia as well. After his return to Cambodia he lived with Nang Nêv, with whom he had a daughter, Sally.   Further Details...

Condition

Average. 217pp. Spine slightly sloped. Paper cover only slightly attached to spine. Two fold out maps and one fold out plan in back.

References

OCLC 768844.