Birth of Auguste Choisy (February 7, 1841)

Auguste Choisy was a French architectural historian who argued for the importance of Armenia as a source for European architecture.

Choisy was born in Vitry-le-François on February 7, 1841. He studied architecture in Paris at the École Polytechnique (1861-1863) and the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (1863-1866). As part of his studies, he traveled to Rome and Athens, with a focus on the structures of ancient monuments. He was professor of architecture at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, his alma mater, from 1877 to 1901.

He wrote monographs on architecture in ancient Rome (1873), Byzantium (1883), and Egypt (1904). In 1899, he published his two-volume book, Histoire de l’architecture (The History of Architecture), where he developed isometric drawings that combined plan, elevation, section, perspective into a single drawing. He then used this visual approach to describe buildings in social and material terms along with historical determinism.

In his book, he laid critical foundations for the study of medieval Armenian architecture. He recognized its originality, detaching it from the common view of being a subdivision of Byzantine art. He identified the existence of unique methods of construction, such as pointed domes and advanced stonemasonry, and placed Armenia as a bridge between Eastern and Western architectural forms. He supported the theory that Armenian architecture played in a role in the development of Romanesque and Gothic styles, with the Crusades as a potential vehicle.

In 1904, Choisy won the Royal Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He died on September 18, 1909, at the age of 68, in Paris.