French Institute of Pondicherry
புதுச்சேரி பிரெஞ்சு நிறுவனம்
French research institute founded in 1955 and kept by the 1956 Treaty of Cession, known for its Indology collections; on the Ashram heritage walk.
A French public research institute in the northern French Quarter, studying Indian society, culture and environment. Puducherry Tourism includes it on the Ashram heritage walk.
History
It was inaugurated on 21 March 1955 as the Institut Français d’Indologie, under its first director Jean Filliozat, and Article 24 of the Treaty of Cession of the French settlements (28 May 1956) provided that it be maintained as a research institution. Departments of Ecology, Social Sciences (1988) and Geomatics followed. In 2005 its collection of Shaivite manuscripts was included in UNESCO’s Memory of the World register.
What to see
- The institute building on the Ashram heritage walk
Why visit
A living link between France and Pondicherry after 1954, and a centre of research on South Indian history and religion.
Before you go
It is a research institution, not a museum.
- Coordinates
11.937010, 79.835966