Cambodge et Siam: Voyage et séjour aux ruines des monuments kmers
by Auguste Achille Hyppolyte Filoz
Picturesque account of the Aymonier-Delaporte mission to Angkor in the 1870s
![Filoz](https://cdn.angkordatabase.asia/imager/images/books/cambodge-et-siam-voyage-et-sejour-aux-ruines-des-monuments-kmers/738/filoz_6c0c164bd2b597ee32b68b8b5755bd2e.jpg)
Type: facsimile
Publisher: Paris, n.d.
Edition: Hachette/BNF/Gallica facsimile 2015
Published: 1885
Author: Auguste Achille Hyppolyte Filoz
Pages: 184
ISBN: 978-2-36013-232-4
Language : French
ADB Library Catalog ID: FILPRINT
A French Navy commander, Auguste Filoz was assigned to the “Expédition du Mékong” (Mekong Mission), which led him to follow archeologists Etienne Aymonier and Louis Delaporte to Angkor. His travelogue, written in a vivacious and often tongue-in-cheek tone, remains an important document for several reasons:
- a vivid account on the daily life and creeds of the Khmer people before the colonization era
- the work of pioneer French archeologists in Angkor, casting Angkorian bas-reliefs in plaster (“moulages en soufre”, in French), and, at that stage, the limitations of Western knowldege about the scope of the Ancient Khmer civilization — it was then believed that the Angkorian monuments had fallen in ruins before completion…
- the navigation hazards on the Tonle Sap Lake
- the direct witnessing of how Angkor was still a revered and sacred site then (with, for instance, the cremation ceremony honoring a respected monk right in Angkor Wat)
In his introduction to this reprint, researcher Olivier de Bernon noted:
Le récit du capitaine Auguste Filoz complète admirablement le Voyage au Cambodge de Louis Delaporte, le grand explorateur du site d’Angkor. Il donne, avec une simplicité amusée, toutes sortes de détails dont Delaporte lui-même né pouvait pas rendre compte dans l’ouvrage plus académique qu’on attendait du chef de la mission.
Publié initialement en 1876, le livre d’Auguste Filoz connait une certaine fortune au tournant du XXe siècle quand le ministère de l’Instruction publique en fait un prix aux écoliers méritants invités à s’inspirer du courage et de la modestie de l’auteur. En 1897, Louis Delaporte, devenu conservateur du musée indochinois du Trocadéro, passa commande au vieil officier d’une maquette du temple du Bayon d’Angkor Thom. Cette admirable pièce, entrée en 1901 dans les collections, est désormais exposée au musée national des arts asiatiques Guimet.
[Captain Auguste Filoz’s account admirably completes Voyage au Cambodge by Louis Delaporte, the great explorer of the Angkor site. He gives, with amused simplicity, all kinds of details which Delaporte himself could not account for in the more academic work that was expected of the head of the mission. Initially published in 1876, Auguste Filoz’s book enjoyed some success at the turn of the 20th century when the Ministry of Public Education awarded it a prize to deserving schoolchildren invited to draw inspiration from the author’s courage and modesty. In 1897, Louis Delaporte, who had become curator of the Indochinese Trocadéro museum, ordered a model of the Bayon temple of Angkor Thom from the old officer. This admirable piece, entered into the collections in 1901, is now exhibited at the National Museum of Asian Arts Guimet.”
Note: Filoz’s book is titled “Cambodge et Siam”, since the Angkor area was then under the authority of the Kingdom of Siam.
Tags: French explorers, Khmer culture, Mission Delaporte, moulding
About the Author
![Filoz223](https://cdn.angkordatabase.asia/imager/images/authors/auguste-achille-hyppolyte-filoz/1028/filoz223_08f030397072f259b0aea80df225fbea.jpg)
Auguste Achille Hyppolyte Filoz
Auguste Achille Hippolyte Filoz (4 Nov. 1832-?) was a French Navy officer specializing in molding who took part in the 1873 Mission Delaporte and became a member of the “Société des Orientalistes” (Orientalist Society) after his journey through South-East Asia.
Traveling along Etienne Aymonier, he joined the Delaporte Mission at Angkor in September 1873, he stayed behind when the 150-strong expedition went back to Saigon, realizing casts and mouldings of bas-reliefs, returning back to Saigon on November 17, 1873.
An independent free-thinker, he often criticized the French colonial administration, and his contribution as visual artist was not often granted the attention it deserved.
![](https://cdn.angkordatabase.asia/libs/img/emile-gsell-mission-delaporte-1873-angkor.jpg)