Henri Terrasse (Vrigny-aux-Bois, 8 August 1895 – Grenoble, 11 October 1971)[1][2] was a French historian, archeologist, and orientalist who specialized in the art and history of the Islamic world and of Morocco in particular.
[1] In 1923 he became professor at the important Institut des Hautes Études Marocaines in Rabat, where he collaborated with French orientalist Henri Basset for a series of studies on Almohad mosques.
[4] In 1957, shortly after Moroccan independence from France, he moved to Spain to become director of the Casa de Velázquez in Madrid, before retiring in 1965.
The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture describes Terrasse's work as the foundation of the art history of Islamic-era Morocco and the surrounding region, although it notes that his work is "sometimes characterized by misconceptions typical of the French colonial school of scholarship, such as the dichotomous interpretation of Moroccan history into Arab and Berber cultures".
[3] Similarly, Jonathan Bloom characterized him, along with Marçais, as one of the most important foundational scholars in the study of western Islamic architecture.