Kruta, Venceslas

Venceslas Kruta (4 November 1939 – 19 July 2026) was a French archaeologist and historian. He was the director of European protohistory studies at the École pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), and Professor emeritus at the Sorbonne University. Kruta has also directed the Centre d'Études Celtiques in Paris and the journal Études Celtiques, and has chaired the editorial board of the journal Gallia (CNRS). Kruta specialised in the protohistory of Europe, more specifically the commercial and cultural relations between Central Europe and the Mediterranean. He has directed numerous excavation sites, most notably the parvis of Notre-Dame and the Square Court of the Louvre in Paris. Kruta was a member of the German Archaeological Institute, the Real Academia de la Historia, the Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi ed Italici, and the Académie de Versailles.