Irina Oryshkevich Ph.D.,
Columbia University, Department of Art History and Archaeology

Irina's project is on the rediscovery and exploration of the catacombs in Counter-Reformation Rome. She demonstrates that the discovery of a richly decorated catacomb on the outskirts of Rome in 1578 helped establish a Christian history for "pagan" Rome. Religious reformers and ecclesiastics, as well as artists and architects, took advantage of the catacombs in a period that ended in 1650 with the publication of Paolo Aringhi's Roma subterranea, which was to become the definitive work on cemeteries until the mid nineteenth century. Irina will teach Art Humanities.

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