Wijad Academy, Session 3 | The history and the identity of manuscript
Invitation only training
| 📅 | 1-5 June 2026 |
| 📍 | INHA and BnF Richelieu, Paris |
Wijad Academy is a two-year, 80-hour program for MA and PhD students/candidates in disciplines that work with manuscripts produced in the Arabic script. The program of the academy covers different scientific, historical, material, aesthetic, legal, and technological aspects associated with the study of manuscripts. Wijad has a particular focus on Arabic and Ottoman Turkish manuscripts.
Proposed by the Institut français du Proche-Orient (Ifpo) in 2024 and supported by a consortium of eight academic and cultural institutions in France, Lebanon and Turkey. INHA will host a session on iconography in Arab manuscript on 3 June 2026.
The event is co-organised with the Institut français du Proche-Orient (Ifpo), the American University of Beyrouth (AUB), Université Saint-Joseph (USJ), Institut Français d’Études Anatoliennes (IFEA), Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INALCO) and UMR 8167 Orient & Méditerranée.
Programme of the day organised at the INHA:
Session 1 (9:30 am-1:00 pm) – Manuscript consultation (BnF) and discussion session (INHA, Salle André Chastel)
A two-hour manuscript consultation session at the BnF (9:30-11:30 am), followed by a return to the INHA for an in-depth discussion in the Salle André Chastel (11:30 am-1:00 pm).
Dedicated to illustrated manuscripts, this session will present a selection of works from the BnF collections, highlighting their iconographic and material specificities.
Speakers: Éloïse Brac de la Perrière, Johanna Cozzolino, and Camille Grandpierre.
1:00 pm – Lunch break at the INHA cafeteria
Session 2 (2:30-4:30 pm) – Calligraphy demonstration (INHA, Salle André Chastel)
This session, held at the INHA (Salle André Chastel), offers an exploration of the aesthetic, technical, and historical dimensions of calligraphy in manuscripts, accompanied by a live demonstration.
Speakers: Éloïse Brac de la Perrière and Nuria Garcia Masip, master calligrapher.
Film screening (5:30–6:30 pm) – CallFront – Récit de voyages (BnF – Salle de conférence)
Screening of the documentary CallFront: Récit de voyages (directed by Antoine Brendlen), focusing on contemporary calligraphic practices at the frontiers of the Islamic world and their circulation.
The film was shot during fieldwork conducted in Morocco, China, and West Africa.
