TOMB OF HENRI MOUHOT

The Frenchman Alexandre Henri Mouhot was born in Montbéliard in 1826 and died in Luang Prabang in 1861. Unfortunately, this naturalist explorer remains little-known, even though he is credited with the discovery of the remains of Khmer architecture. Driven by a taste for adventure, he first visited Italy, Germany, then England where he married Anna Park, a descendant of the explorer Mungo Park. In 1856 he settled on the island of Jersey and refined his knowledge of natural sciences. Later, he decided to explore Siam and Cambodia. In April 1858, he embarked from London on a ship bound for Bangkok.

There, he became friends with Ang Duong, king of Cambodia until 1860, then with Norodom. In 1860, he made Westerners rediscover the site of Angkor. Then, he decides to discover the north of Laos, a region still unexplored by a Westerner. He went as far as Luang Prabang, which he described in his notebooks as "a small paradise". Victim of fever, he died on November 10, 1861 in this city that he revealed to Westerners. He was buried, it seems, at the place of his death. You can go and see the tomb of Henri Mouhot on which is inscribed "The town of Montbéliard proud of its child". A funerary monument was erected on his grave during the passage of the Doudart de Lagrée and Francis Garnier expedition in 1867. It was only in 1990 that his grave was unearthed and maintained by the French Embassy. A statue has recently been erected in his honour.