She was the author of many books on Egyptian art and history and was also known for her role in the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia from flooding caused by the Aswan Dam.

[1][2] In 1922 she was fascinated by Howard Carter’s discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, and encouraged by priest and scholar, Father Étienne Drioton, she joined the Egyptian Antiquities department at the Louvre.

[2] In 1937, she received her PhD in philology from the École Pratique des Hautes études of the Sorbonne, under Gustave Lefebvre, Alexandre Moret and Raymond Weill.

[9] They began with the recording of the Tombs of the Nobles at Luxor, but in early 1955, Desroches Noblecourt reported back to UNESCO that the potential flooding of the monuments of ancient Nubia by the new Aswan High Dam were of immediate importance.

Desroches Noblecourt and France's role in the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia saw an improvement in Franco-Egyptian relations, which had been poor since the Suez Canal crisis of 1956.

[6] In 1972, in recognition of France's contributions to the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the government of Anwar Sadat gave to the Louvre the bust of Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten).

Desroches Noblecourt negotiated the objects that would form the exhibition, and they included the gold mask of Tutankhamun, marking the first time it entered Europe.

Christiane Desroches Noblecourt has been awarded several prestigious honours, including in 1975 the gold medal of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), and in January 2008, the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur, the highest decoration in France,[18] During her lifetime, she was awarded: In May 2016, the former garden of Place Rodin was renamed Jardin Christiane-Desroches-Noblecourt in Desroches Noblecourt's honour.