Thompson, Marcy		Table of contents		Indexes		Tomlin, Robin

France    Paris   Sous-direction de l'Inventaire et de la documentation du Patrimoine Toche, Olivier

Toche, Olivier

Sous-direction de l'Inventaire et de la documentation du Patrimoine

Ministry of Culture, Heritage Management

Sous-direction de l'Inventaire et de la documentation du Patrimoine, Hôtel de Vigny, 10 rue du Parc-Royal, Paris (France) F-75003 Tel: +33 (0)1 40 15 73 00  Fax:+33 (0)1 40 15 76 76 Email: : toche@vigny.culture.fr WEB:http://www.culture.fr/culture/inventai/presenta/invent.htm WEB:http://www.culture.fr/cgi-bin/mistral/merimee) WEB:http://aquarelle.inria.fr)

A research engineer,Olivier Toche has been working for the Ministry of Culture since 1984. A graduate of theEcole supérieure d'électricité (« Supélec ») in 1982, having specialized in « telematics and data systems », and with a degree in economic science (Panthéon-Sorbonne university) and humanities (New Sorbonne university) he was employed for two years at the French embassy in Canada (Ottawa, Ontario) followed by six months training with the European Community Commission. He has been in charge of the General Inventory's sub-administration for documentary informatics and new technologies since 1991. He participates in standardisation work with Council of Europe experts and has organized numerous training courses and study sessions on databases, digital imagery and networks. He lectures at theEcole nationale du Patrimoine where he is an elected member of the scientific council.

Set up by André Malraux in 1964, the Inventaire générale (General Inventory ) is the research and documentation department whose duties are to study and make known France's monuments and heritage. A department of the French Ministry of Culture, the General Inventory is part of the direction du Patrimoine (Heritage administration). It is made up of a sub-administration department in Paris and twenty-two regional departments. The sub-administration is responsible for department policy, defines methods and technical means, assists regional departments and sees to the dissemination and exploitation of research. It co-ordinates its actions with the sub-administrations for archaeology and historic monuments and with the ethnological heritage mission. Regional departments are responsible for making topographical and thematic Inventory surveys, for archiving their findings and their restitution, especially within the framework of the Heritage documentation centres network. The General Inventory publishes its works in a dozen volumes representing some three hundred headings. The department also produces two national databases: the MERIMEE database on monument heritage, disseminated by Minitel and on Internet, and the PALISSY database on art treasure heritage. The department actively participates in the Ministry of Culture's Web server by producing pages of information and virtual exhibitions and content folders.

Thompson, Marcy		Table of contents		Indexes		Tomlin, Robin