Léon Azéma

Léon Azéma (20 January 1888 – 1 March 1978) was a French architect. He is responsible for many public works in France, especially in and around Paris.

Azéma was born in Alignan-du-Vent in the Hérault department of southern France. His parents were viticulturists ruined by Phylloxera, and were unable to fund their son's studies, so he moved to Paris in 1902 and entered the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts as an apprentice, where he studied under Gaston Redon.

In 1912, he was called to military service. He was seriously wounded at Charleroi during the First World War and taken prisoner. He spent five years in German captivity but his artistic ability was appreciated by his captors, who provided him with paper and pencils.

He returned to France in 1919 and rejoined the École des Beaux-Arts. He won first prize in the Prix de Rome in 1921, and the international competition for the construction of the Palace of Justice in Cairo. He built several buildings in Alexandria with the College of Christian Schools and the Collège Saint-Marc. In 1922 he presented a project to rebuild the Labyrinth of Thebes in Karnak.

On his return to France, he was appointed professor at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1923 he won the contest for Douaumont ossuary, which reflects his admiration for Roman art and stone building construction, and was completed in 1932. It houses the bones of at least 130,000 unidentified soldiers of both sides. The jury was impressed by the functional qualities of the design. Azéma often travelled to visit the site during the rest of his career.

Appointed Architect of the City of Paris in 1928, Azéma designed the restoration of the park of Sceaux. He reconstructed the Pavilion of Hanover in 1932 and in 1934–1935 he rebuilt waterfalls created by André Le Nôtre and destroyed in the French Revolution.

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