**BOURASSE, Jean-Jacques.** - Archaeologist and historian of Touraine, born at Saint-Maur (Indre-et-Loire) on 22 Dec. 1813 and died at Tours on 4 Oct. 1872. Ordained priest, he taught natural sciences and theology at the seminary of Tours. But his passion was archaeology, of which he was one of the pioneers in France.
**He published:** *Recherches historiques et archéologiques sur les églises romanes en Touraine* (Tours 1869), *Les cathédrales de France* (ibid. 1843) and especially a *Christian Archaeology* (ibid. 1840) which went through many editions, though it is nothing more than a treatise on sacred architecture, chiefly medieval and French. More extensive, but written with the same method, is the *Dictionnaire d’archéologie sacrée* (2 vols., Paris 1851) in Migne’s encyclopaedic collection.
**Also his are a *Histoire de Jésus-Christ* and a *Histoire de la Vierge Marie*, published at Tours in 1861 and 1863 respectively, written with a historical-archaeological intent.**
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