BOURASSÉ, JEAN-JACQUES. - Archaeologist and historian of Touraine, b. at 8.te-Maure (Indre-et-Loire) on 22 Dec. 1813 and d. at Tours on 4 Oct. 1872. Ordained a priest, he taught natural sciences and theology in the seminary of Tours. But his passion was archaeology, and he was one of the pioneers of this science in France.
He published: Recherches historiques et archéologiques sur les églises romanes en Touraine (Tours 1869), Les cathédrales de France (ibid. 1843), and especially an Archéologie chrétienne (ibid. 1840), which went through many editions, although it is no more than a treatise on sacred architecture, predominantly medieval and French. More extensive, but composed according to the same method, is the Dictionnaire d'archéologie sacrée (2 vols., Paris 1851) in Migne’s encyclopedic collection.
Also his are a Histoire de Jésus-Christ and a Histoire de la Vierge Marie, published at Tours in 1861 and 1863 and written with a historical-archaeological purpose.