Friedrich Oscar Oertel was a Kingdom of Hanover-born engineer, architect, and archaeologist. He is best known among Indian art historians and archaeologists for having excavated the archaeological site of Sarnath in the winter of 1904–1905. It was here that in March 1905 he unearthed the Lion Capital of Ashoka of an Ashokan pillar, which was to become the national emblem of India. However, probably because he was mainly involved as a civil engineer and architect in the Public Works Department, his contributions to the fields of art history and archaeology are largely overlooked in the historiography of South Asian art and archaeology.
F.O. Oertel in Bagan (1892)
F.O. Oertel & his wife Margaret H. Lechmere, 25 July 1903
The Lion Capital of Ashoka on the ground at Sarnath, before 1911, probably 1904-05
F.O. Oertel, September 1930
Sarnath is a place located 10 kilometres northeast of Varanasi, near the confluence of the Ganges and the Varuna rivers in Uttar Pradesh, India.
View of Sarnath, looking from the ruins of the ancient Mulagandha Kuty Vihara towards the Dhamek Stupa
Friedrich Oertel's plan of excavation. The lion capital was found in 1905 to the west of the main shrine, which is to the north of the "Jagat Singh" stupa.
Buddhist monk in Sarnath
Sarnath Jain Tirth
