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.