Gisèle Hyvert Collection

Gisèle Louise Hyvert was born in Chignin, in Savoy.

Initially affiliated with the Laboratory of Cryptogamy at the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle and later serving as a UNESCO expert, she worked on the restoration of historic monuments in Cambodia (1961 and 1963), in order to study the deterioration of Khmer monuments and experimenting with stone conservation treatments. She also carried out ethnographic research there and made sound recordings, for which she was awarded the Liotard Prize (1963) by the Société des Explorateurs Français.

As part of UNESCO projects, she continued her work in Indonesia, in particular at the stupa of Borobudur (1968–1971), and on Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in 1972.

Her principal UNESCO mission took place in Nepal between 1970 and 1977, where she was notably involved in the restoration and conservation of the former royal palace of Kathmandu (Hanuman Dhoka), with its complex of temples, as well as at the National Museum of Nepal (Chhauni) and at the palace of Gorkha (central Nepal).

In 1978, she undertook a private journey to Kashmir and Ladakh.

After Nepal, G. Hyvert worked within the framework of another UNESCO heritage restoration programme in Haiti (1979–1990), notably concerning the Citadelle Laferrière, the Sans-Souci Palace and the Ramiers site.

Her final missions, in the 1990s, were devoted, among others, to endangered heritage in the aftermath of the war in Croatia and Bosnia (1992–1993), as well as to Madagascar following the fire at the Rova of Antananarivo (1995).

The documentary archive of Gisèle Hyvert relating to the Himalayan regions (primarily Nepal and Ladakh) has been deposited with the association Mémoires de l’Himalaya.