Podcast Summary: Le Cours de l'histoire – "Boîtes de nonnes, histoires de cellules en miniature"

Podcast: Le Cours de l'histoire (France Culture)
Date: January 3, 2026
Host: Xavier Mauduit
Guests:

• Isabelle Landonat (Professeure d’histoire médiévale)
• Elisabeth Lucet (Chercheuse au CNRS, co-directrice de "Une vie en boîte")

Episode Overview

This episode explores the fascinating world of "boîtes de nonnes"—miniature models of nuns' monastic cells crafted primarily in the 18th and 19th centuries. The discussion unveils these artifacts as unique historical documents, offering rare insights into the daily life, spirituality, and visual culture of cloistered religious women. The hosts and guests examine the objects’ origins, meanings, uses, and the mysteries surrounding their fabrication and transmission.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Are "Boîtes de nonnes"?

[02:05–03:23]

• Miniature boxes (10–30 cm) with glass fronts, displaying tiny doll-like nuns inside their replicated monastic cells.
• The objects typically contain handcrafted details: a nun in habit, furniture (bed, chair, writing desk), devotional items (crucifix, icons), and domestic objects (sewing basket, broom, hourglass).
• Elisabeth Lucet: "On se penche pour regarder cette vitre, on voit une petite poupée habillée en religieuse... Elle est en train de coudre et elle se trouve dans sa cellule, simple, avec quelques meubles." [02:26]

2. Terminology & Identification Challenges

[03:32–05:21]

• These boxes have diverse, imprecise names: "bois vitrés", "petites maquettes", "béati", etc.
• Difficult to catalogue; poorly studied until recently.
• Inspired a web-documentary when images of real cells were too rare to find.

3. Secrecy and Representation

[05:47–07:44]

• The nun’s cell is the most private space in the convent—rarely depicted, even less accessible to outsiders.
• These models are among the very few visual representations of such secluded spaces.
• Elisabeth Lucet: "C’est le lieu le plus secret... qui symbolise chez les carmélites notamment l’espace de spiritualité dans son aspect reclus et dans sa petitesse aussi." [05:47]

4. Purpose and Circulation of the Boxes

[08:18–11:44]

• Boxes often gifted to family members or benefactors, sometimes exchanged among nuns, or sent across the cloister.
• Occasionally served educational functions (as models of monastic life for others, or inspiration for young girls).
• Largely produced using found or recycled materials (fabric scraps, bread dough, bits of calendar).
• Elisabeth Lucet: "Donc on voit que cet objet, il peut faire l’objet d’une production en série." [10:23]

5. Production Scale and Preservation

[11:51–12:42]

• Over 500 examples currently documented; suggests a much wider historical production.
• Many lost due to the fragility of materials and lack of institutional value attributed to them by the originating communities.
• Recent rediscoveries as convents close, families return forgotten items.

6. Who Made These Boxes?

[14:14–14:24]

• Primarily, but not exclusively, crafted by strictly cloistered orders: Carmélites, Clarisses, Cisterciennes, and a few others.
• Habits and cell decor often help identify the denomination.

7. Authenticity and Personalization

[16:57–18:52]

• Each box can be personalized with iconography, inscriptions (favorite saints, spiritual quotes), or even photos (in later examples).
• Hybrid objects sometimes bridge the gap between religious relic and family memento.
• Xavier Mauduit: "On a quelque chose qui touche... à la relique familiale dans l'idée que cette boîte se trouve à la maison avec... la fille, la sœur qui est partie dans un couvent." [18:52]

8. Making and Meaning

[20:00–22:15]

• Variety in skill and artistry: from crude to intricate designs, with some boxes as small as walnut shells or egg shells.
• Making these boxes could have been both a communal art and an individual devotional act.
• Uncertainty remains about the specific time/place in daily routine when these were made.
• Boxes represent both mundane and spiritual aspects: humility, manual labor, prayer.

9. A Window into Spiritual and Social Life

[28:06–30:12]

• Contents of the cell are laden with symbolic meanings: hourglass (the passage of time), broom (cleaning the soul), discipline and cilice (mortification).
• Lucet: "C’est un objet qui sursignifie ce qu’est la vie religieuse, à la fois dans sa pauvreté, dans son humilité…" [28:06]
• Don't interpret them as literal reproductions—often idealized or symbolized versions of reality.

10. Family and Transmission: Stories and Testimonies

[39:33–43:53]

• Some boxes became treasured family heritage, passed down generations.
• Notable personal stories:
  • Testimony of Clotilde Astruc, who inherited her aunt Noémie’s cell-box and associated relics, highlighting the emotional connection (letter exchange, craft, memory).
  • Victor Hugo’s family: his Carmélite cousin’s box became an object of shared memory—sometimes repurposed as a dollhouse.
• Clotilde Astruc (read by Jeanne Copé): "J'imaginais tout cela en regardant la maquette de cellules qu'elle avait confectionnée... Son clair visage de porcelaine, au sourire impassible, me fixant à travers la façade vitrée, comme un sarcophage miniature." [40:48]

11. Enfermement (Confinement) and Its Ambivalences

[46:04–48:50]

• Boxes negotiate the paradox of displaying seclusion to the public: a tool for assertion and communication across the cloister.
• Isabelle Landonat: "C’est à la fois une manière de sortir mais d’afficher. C’est une cellule, c’est extrêmement austère en même temps." [46:53]
• Permissiveness and communication varied across time and between orders, but strict separation remained the ideal.

12. Cultural Context & Evolution

[48:34–51:33]

• Peak production in the 19th century, persisting into the mid-20th, with the decline after Vatican II.
• Their proliferation matched significant upswings in female religious vocations during the 19th century (from ~4000 women in 1820 to 135,000 by 1878).

13. Didactic, Devotional, or Proselytic Intentions?

[51:58–53:37]

• Some served as objects of inspiration for girls (sometimes edging toward "proselytism").
• Others were family keepsakes, mementos of the absent nun, or even posthumous relics.

14. A (Near-)Universal Phenomenon

[56:52–57:46]

• Similar boxes found throughout Western Europe (France, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands), fewer (so far) in Italy.
• Ongoing appeal for testimonies and private owners to help continue mapping their spread and histories.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Elisabeth Lucet on Secrecy:
  “Une cellule de nonne, ça ne se voit pas. C’est l’endroit le plus secret du secret du secret.” [05:47]
• Xavier Mauduit, on Symbolism:
  “C’est le balai de l’âme qui chasse les péchés.” [28:06]
• Isabelle Landonat on Personalization:
  “Il y a des boîtes qui sont vraiment magnifiques et qui témoignent d’une très très grande dextérité... et puis il y en a d’autres très maladroits, toutes les proportions ne sont pas du tout respectées.” [20:00]
• Clotilde Astruc (read by Jeanne Copé):
  “J’imaginais tout cela en regardant la maquette de cellules qu’elle avait confectionnée... Son clair visage de porcelaine, au sourire impassible, me fixant à travers la façade vitrée, comme un sarcophage miniature.” [40:48]
• Xavier Mauduit, concluding the theme:
  “Ces boîtes de nonnes sont une manière de montrer à l’extérieur l’enfermement. C’est à la fois une manière de sortir mais d’afficher.” [46:53]
• Call for Contributions:
  “On fait un appel à témoignage. Si les gens qui nous écoutent en ont et qui nous écrivent…” [12:05]
• On International Scope:
  “On en a trouvé partout ailleurs en Europe, en Suisse, aux Pays-Bas, en France, Belgique, en Espagne. C’est une histoire qui parle toutes les langues, ces religieuses parlent toutes les langues.” [57:41]

Timestamps of Major Segments

• [00:00–01:42] Introduction and topic setup
• [02:05–03:32] Description of a “boîte de nonne” and first historical context
• [05:47–07:44] The secrecy of the monastic cell and rare representations
• [08:18–11:44] Purposes and uncertain origins of the boxes
• [12:00–14:24] Scale of production, geographical spread, and orders involved
• [16:57–18:52] Typology, personalization, and the use of photographic portraits
• [28:06–30:12] Spiritual symbolism in the cell’s miniature objects
• [39:33–43:53] Family stories and personal attachment (including Clotilde Astruc, Victor Hugo)
• [46:04–48:50] The paradox of "showing" seclusion and reflections on confinement
• [51:58–53:37] Impact on children, girls, and dimension of proselytism
• [56:52–57:46] International comparison and concluding call for testimonies

Conclusion

This episode offered a vivid, nuanced exploration of an unexpected microhistory—the tiny boxed cells of nuns—intertwining material culture, gender history, spirituality, secrecy, and family memory. The boxes stand as humble yet complex witnesses to hidden lives and their roles in familial and public imagination. While much remains mysterious, each is a miniature world inviting both historical investigation and personal fascination.

Final word:
"Il y a tant et tant à dire autour de ces boîtes de nonnes. Une vie en boîte, c’est l’ouvrage que vous avez co-dirigé… Et c’est une histoire qui parle toutes les langues." [55:53–57:41]