publications containing information about Arabic inscriptions and numis-
matics appeared at this time, and architectural studies and some restorations
were carried out, but Islamic antiquities were deWnitively not the priority
among scholars (Erzini 2000: 73–4; Oulebsir 2004: 82–91).
From the 1860s the interest in Roman archaeology contrasted with the
lesser concern not only for prehistoric archaeology, as seen in the previous
section, but also to a certain extent for post-Roman archaeology. In the case
of Byzantine archaeology, this was not only because its remains were not
spectacular. As Pringle points out, the Byzantine ‘failure to restore Christian
Roman Africa and to prevent its collapse raised the uneasy question of the
durability of France’s own colonial activity in North Africa’ (Pringle 1981: 6).
However, despite the predominance of the interest towards Roman antiqui-
ties, and even the exaltation of Roman remains (Oulebsir 2004: 21–2), a
distinctive novel interest in Islamic art and archaeology started to become
apparent. This appeal can be traced in a new appreciation of the Islamic past in
town planning and the protection of some outstanding Islamic buildings
such as the Lotophagues street in Algiers thanks to the eVorts of the Socie ́te ́
historique alge ́rienne (ibid. 138), also in the appearance of experts on Islamic
art such as Edmond Duthoit (ibid. 140–57), the inXuence of Islamic art in
new buildings, and, in the second half of the century, of Islamic antiquities
from North Africa in the great international exhibitions organized in Paris in
1867, 1878, 1889, and 1900 (Erzini 2000: 74; Palermo 2003). Archaeologists
such as Louis-Adrien Berbrugger and Albert Devoulx were among the most
prominent writers on Islamic archaeology at the time (Erzini 2000). From
1898 excavation of archaeological sites started. Six museums of Islamic art
were opened, some purpose built such as the National Museum of Algerian
Antiquities and of Muslim Art in Algiers, inaugurated in 1897. In Morocco,
among the colonial administrators there were specialists in native
customs and culture—ethnographers, linguists, and archaeologists (Erzini
2000: 77).
The changes in attitude towards Islamic art and archaeology can be con-
nected to the appearance of a novel sociological interest in the Muslim world,
which had started to emerge in France at the turn of the century in what Burke
has called the ‘Wrst crisis of Orientalism’ (Burke 1984: 226). In Algeria this
transformation was reXected in the intellectual and artistic impetus during
what has been called in Algeria the Belle E ́poque des Franc ̧ais d’Alge ́rie. Its
origin has been dated to 1900, the year in which Algeria obtainedWnancial
autonomy from France. Tourism has also been mentioned as part of the
context in which these processes took place. This new spirit encouraged a
cultural policy favourable to local tradition and a belief that the two cultures in
the area, the French and the Arab (and Berber) cultures, could be reconciled
274 Colonial Archaeology