Abstract: Based on archival and graphic analysis, this paper focuses on the various factors that prompted Pontremoli’s transformation of archaeological perspective. By comparing his work with earlier archaeological reports by pensionnaires and with the archaeological findings of German scholars at Pergamon, the article analyzes the complex influence exerted on Pontremoli by the pensionnaire archaeological tradition, techniques of urban survey, German archaeological methods and ideas, and pedagogical adjustments at the École des Beaux-Arts. It further reveals archaeological study as a flexible and significant institution that contributed to the transformation of architectural education at the École des Beaux-Arts.