The Jean Capart Fund

The Jean Capart Fund, founded in 2016 at the initiative of his family, is a private fund with the aim to safeguard, to revalue, and to raise awareness of the work and historical patrimony of the father of Belgian Egyptology.

This fund enjoys the support of the King Baudouin Foundation – a charitable foundation active on a Belgian, European, and global level – and is placed under the honorary presidency of one of the granddaughters of Queen Elisabeth, Her Royal Highness Princess Esméralda of Belgium.

In collaboration with the Fondation Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth and the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels, this fund primarily supports the project set up by the historian Jean-Michel Bruffaerts, specialist of Jean Capart and the history of the Belgian Egyptology . It is composed of a Board of Directors and a Board of Experts. The first, chaired by Dominique Capart, the oldest of the grandsons of Jean Capart, is responsible for the proper management of the funds; the second unites Egyptologists, Papyrologists, and historians from the academic world and museums, whose expertise and scientific knowledge guarantee the success of the project.

Letter of Queen Elisabeth of Belgium to Jean Capart, 7 October 1945 (Arch. FERE)

Elisabeth (1876–1965), born Duchess in Bavaria, wife of King Albert I, was the third Queen of the Belgians. She visited Egypt several times. On 18 February 1923, accompanied by her son Leopold (the future King Leopold III) (1901–1983) and Jean Capart, she travels to the Valley of Kings to assist in the opening of the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. To commemorate this visit, Jean Capart proposes to initiate a Queen Elisabeth Fund under her protection, which would soon bear the name Fondation Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth. Elisabeth remained closely connected to the director of the fund and granted him until his death both moral as well as unwavering financial support.