Statue of Auguste Mariette, Statue in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
The Statue Auguste Mariette is a stone monument in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, dedicated to the Egyptologist who was born in the town. It depicts him seated on a pedestal in a public space that is easy to reach on foot.
Auguste Mariette was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1821 and first grew interested in Egypt after visiting the local museum, where he taught himself to read hieroglyphs. His travels to Egypt in the early 1850s led to major excavations and the founding of the first antiquities museum in Cairo.
The statue shows Mariette seated and holding a book, a direct reference to his work as a researcher and scholar. Nearby plaques written in French give short accounts of his discoveries and their importance.
The monument sits in a public space in the center of Boulogne-sur-Mer and fits naturally into a walk through the town's historic areas. The space is open at all times and easy to reach on foot from other nearby points of interest.
Mariette earned the title of pasha, an honor granted by Egypt, which was rare for a scholar from a small coastal town in northern France. After his death in 1881, his body was taken to Egypt, where it rests in a sarcophagus in the courtyard of the Cairo museum he helped create.
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