Miniature Carmelites exhibited in Saint-Denis

They measure a few centimeters but are recognizable by their brown homespun clothing. Kneeling in prayer, sitting, holding a pious work or standing with a broom, these Carmelite figurines are installed in glass boxes, where the decor of their cell has been meticulously represented, as it would be in a doll’s house.

Around twenty of these curious works of piety, made by nuns between the 18th and 21st centuries, are currently presented at the Paul-Éluard art and history museum, in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis). This celebrates, through several exhibitions and events, the 400 years of the ancient Carmel in which it is installed. And of which it has very fortunately preserved the classic and serene architecture.

On the ground floor, in one of the rooms overlooking the pretty cloister, you can view the display cases of the route Unveil. A life in miniature : the models of cells introduce into the privacy of these cloistered women. “We found very little documentation on these miniature boxes, but we know that many were sent to relatives.

Thus, the women who had entered the orders could show them where they lived, now that they had become invisible to the outside world,” explains Isabelle Heullant-Donat, one of the guest curators, co-author of a work on the subject*. Several boxes represent Madame Louise, eighth daughter of Louis XV, who became a Carmelite in Saint-Denis, where her exemplary personality was praised.

Skillful and creative

A display case shows the modest materials used: paper, rags, porcelain dolls first, Celluloid later. At the end of the 19th century, printed photographs were also cut out. The exhibition even presents cells reconstituted in an eggshell or in a walnut, witnesses to the skill of the nuns.

Enlargements of old photographs of the Carmelites of Lisieux (Calvados) working manually and rare boxes representing the collective life of the convent complete the tour. This continues, upstairs, with a visit to the permanent rooms dedicated to Carmel and an exhibition of photographs on the daily life of Carmelites today.

* A life in a box. Nuns’ cells and convent models (18th – 21st centuries), by Élisabeth Lusset and Isabelle Heullant-Donat, Ed. from the Sorbonne, 392 p. ; €39.