Illustrating Travelogue: Crimea’s History in French Travel Writing of the First Quarter of the 19th Century

This author of the article analyses the uses of the past of the Crimea and the images of archaeological monuments located in the Crimean Peninsula in French travelogues from the late 1800s and 1810s. This region features a unique concentration of cultural heritage sites of various chronological periods and cultures; its rich history traditionally attracted foreigner writers. By the early-nineteenth century, the travellers had in possession fundamental researches on the history of the Crimea and the North Black Sea Area written in French (or translated into French) by Charles de Guignes, Johann Thunmann, Vicenzo Formaleoni, and Stanislas Sestrencewicz de Bohusz. The travellers could also use the heritage of their forerunners: Charles de Peyssonnel, François de Tott, Charles de Ligne, Jean Reuilly, and others. Therefore, the travelogues under present study, created by Charles Pictet de Rochemont, Paul Guibal, Jacques-François Gamba, and “François Mersier” (Just-Jean-Étienne Roy), use history to play an auxiliary role of vignettes or decoration, which do not have particular value in itself, but is capable of animating the story, making the latter lively and romantic, arising the reader’s interest, and underlining specific and exotic image of the Crimea as the country featuring rich cultural heritage and located between East and West. The research has shown that the travelers sometimes used history for their narrow specific purposes: to substantiate economic projects, to aggrandize the works of one’s patron, or to “reveal” Russia’s aggressive plans for world’s politics.