MAG-Renew. 19th-century Morocco through its religious arts

An exhibition proposed by the MAG-Renew project "Renouveaux spirituels et expressions artistiques dans le Maroc du 19ème siècle. Islamological, literary and aesthetic approaches" (CERMOM) and the French Institute of Islamology (IFI).
manuscrit al-Qandūsī (copiste), Dalā'il al-khayrāt (Le Guide des Bienfaits)
al-Qandūsī (copiste), Dalā'il al-khayrāt (Le Guide des Bienfaits), Bibliothèque Nationale du Royaume du Maroc, ms 634J fol. 1b-2a. © BNRM‎

The MAG-Renew project "Spiritual renewal and artistic expression in 19th-century Morocco. Islamological, literary and aesthetic approaches" is the winner of the IFI's call for projects "Pour une islamologie d'excellence" (2023-2026). It aims to study a vast corpus of texts and images, in order to understand the religious reform at work in 19th-century Morocco, expressed in an unprecedented way in the development of religious arts. This reform is not a centralized project. It is polyhedral, and carried by artistic and intellectual personalities who, despite their differences, inform us about the evolution of aesthetic and doctrinal conceptions in this key period of Moroccan history.

The MAG-Renew project invites you to discover a changing world, through a selection of images and texts studied by team members.

The project team
  • Francesco Chiabotti, University Professor (INALCO)
  • Umberto Bongianino, Samir Shamma Associate Professor of Islamic Numismatics, Epigraphy and Material Culture
  • Sophie Tyser, MAG-Renew post-doc (INALCO)
  • Jaafar Kansoussi, President of the Mounya Marrakech Association
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