The rediscovery of Assyria in the 19th century. The archaeological excavations of Victor Place at Khorsabad / Redescoperirea Asiriei în secolul al XIX-lea. Săpăturile arheologice intreprinse de Victor Place la Kkhorsabad

The purpose of this article is to present the archaeological activity of French diplomat Victor Place. During 1851-1855, when he was consul in Mosul, Victor Place had also an archaeological mission, having been charged by the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres in Paris with undertaking excavations at Khorsabad, the site of the ancient city of Durr-Sharukkin, built by Assyrian king Sargon II in the 8th century B.C. Place managed to uncover the palace of Sargon II and collected various Assyrian antiquities which were intended to be exhibited at the Louvre. But unfortunately most of his findings were lost in a shipwreck that took place in April 1855. After his post in Mosul, Victor Place was named consul in Moldova (1855-1863) where he met his wife, Louise Emmeline Ballif, and where he settled after his retirement in 1873. Thanks to his connections with Romania, the National Museum of Romanian History is today owner of an Assyrian cylinder-barrel, with an inscription recounting the reign of Sargon II, that was acquired from a descendant of Victor Place’s.