Currently, Beatrice Alai from the University of Padua is conducting research at the Bibliothèque des sciences religieuses of the EPHE. Read here the short interview we had with her.

ReIReS : Beatrice Alai, you are in Paris as a participant in the TNA programme of ReIReS. Could you briefly explain your research ?

Beatrice Alai : My research begins with a recently discovered illuminated fragments cut out from a Romanesque French Lectern Bible, whose style is very close to the early XII century liturgical manuscripts of the Grand Chartreuse in Grenoble. The project aims to shed light on the production of Carthusian Giant Bibles, analysing the material and ideological strategies adopted by the first communities in France and then in Italy, following the Cistercian models, and their role within the context of the Gregorian Reform.

ReIReS : What were you looking for in the EPHE collections, and what did you find?

Beatrice Alai : Your library has the most amazing literature on Saint Bruno, the Coutumes de Chartreuse and its critical edition, old conference proceedings and journals I couldn’t found in Italy (not so easily anyway, if there is anything is scattered all around in ten different places). So these are the documents I am looking at, thanks to the ReIReS program. I am also searching your archives in case there is anything useful to the cause. I am checking also at the BnF in order to find some twin fragments  from the Grand Chartreuse. The albums I saw yesterday are mostly unknown and I am now in touch with Dr. Le Bitouzé, so I hope to reconstruct the provenance of the pieces and figure out what happened to the cut out Giant bible I am dealing with.

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Thank you for this interview, Beatrice! We wish you all the best for your research stay in Paris.

 

 

Visual: Beatrice Alai and Ynaag Yijing , in front of archives