Collection: Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt

Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt (1913–2011, France) was a French Egyptologist and curator of Egyptian antiquities at the Musée du Louvre, where she worked from 1937. She was a central figure in the UNESCO campaign to save the Nubian temples threatened by the construction of the Aswan High Dam, playing a leading role in the international effort that resulted in the relocation of the temples of Abu Simbel between 1964 and 1968. She organised and catalogued the travelling exhibition of objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun that toured the United States, Canada, Japan and France between 1961 and 1967, raising funds and international support for the rescue operation. Her scholarly catalogue for the 1967 Petit Palais exhibition, Toutankhamon et son temps, drew over 1.24 million visitors and held the French attendance record for fifty years. She was appointed Conservateur en chef honoraire des Musées Nationaux and received numerous honours for her contributions to Egyptology and cultural heritage.