Funded by the Institut français d’islamologie, the research project MagRenew investigates the notion of holiness in nineteenth-century Morocco by combining the study of hagiographic sources and visual culture. In particular, the project aims to bring together a corpus of little-known illuminated manuscripts, calligraphic panels, certificates of prophetic descent, embroidered textiles, and epigraphic artifacts that speak to a period of profound spiritual and aesthetic renewal. The project is directed by Francesco Chiabotti (INALCO), in collaboration with Umberto Bongianino (KRC) and Eloïse Brac de la Perrière (Sorbonne Université).
Relevant publications by team members
- Bongianino, Umberto, “Fabrics of Sainthood: Making and Experiencing Inscribed Tomb Covers in Nineteenth-Century Morocco”, Muqarnas 41, 2024, forthcoming.
- Chiabotti, Francesco, and Hiba Abid, "The World of al-Qandūsī (d. 1278/1861): Prophetology and Calligraphy in Morocco During the First Half of the Nineteenth Century", in The Presence of the Prophet in Early Modern and Contemporary Islam, ed. By D. Gril et alii, Leiden: Brill, 2021, vol. 1, pp. 620–678.
- Nagy, Péter, and Umberto Bongianino, "Barakat Muḥammad: Notes on Square Kufic Epigraphy in the History of Morocco”, in B. O’Kane, A. Peacock, M. Muehlhaeusler (eds), Inscriptions of the Medieval Islamic World, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2023, pp. 146–172.
