École Biblique

The École Biblique, strictly the École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem, is a French academic establishment in Jerusalem, founded by Dominicans, and specialising in archaeology and Biblical exegesis.

Foundation

The school was founded in 1890 under the name École pratique d’études bibliques by Marie-Joseph Lagrange, a Dominican priest. In 1920, it took its current name, following its recognition, by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, as a national archaeological school in France.

The school is situated close to an ancient church to which the supposed relics of Saint Stephen were transferred in 439; in the Byzantine Era this church was the centre of the cult of this particular saint.

Disciplines

Since its creation, the school has been involved in the exegesis of biblical text, and has carried out archaeological research, in a complementary manner and without secrecy, in Palestine and the adjacent territories. Its principal disciplines are epigraphy, the Semitic languages, Assyriology, Egyptology, other aspects of ancient history, geography, and ethnography.