Vani͡a Popova (formerly Moroz)

Prof D-r Vania Popova (formerly Popova-Moroz) is a Bulgarian scholar, archaeologist, and art historian. She specialised in Roman and Byzantine art, including ancient sculpture and portraiture, wall painting, mosaics, basilicas, liturgical objects, and early Christian architecture.

From 1974 - 2019 she was a faculty member of the Bulgarian Academy of Science, Institute of Art Studies, where she:
- Authored over 150 research papers and books related to Roman, Byzantine and early Christian art in Bulgarian and the Balkan peninsula.
- participated in and led multiple expeditions and excavations, including Nessebar, Nove, Serdika, Evpatoria, Chersonese, Kerch, Kyustendil, Sandanski, Garmen, etc.
- Collaborated on several encyclopaedias in Bulgaria, including the encyclopaedia "Thracian Civilization", the "Encyclopaedia Bulgaria" and the "Encyclopaedia of Fine Art in Bulgaria" regarding ancient monuments from Roman and early Byzantine period in Bulgaria.
- Became the co-author and compiler of two significant works on Bulgarian archaeology: "Corpus of Late Antique and Early Christian Wall Paintings in Bulgaria" (published under the name Corpus der spätantiken und frühchristlichen Wandmalereien Bulgariens in Vienna, Austria together with R. Pillinger and B. Zimmermann), as well as the "Corpus of Late Antique and Early Christian Mosaics in Bulgaria" (Corpus der spätantiken und frühchristlichen Mosaiken Bulgariens, also published in Vienna, Austria).

Specialisations
Vania Popova specialised in the German Archaeological Institute in Rome in 1980 ("Roman Portrait" and "Early Christian Art in Bulgaria")
and the Archaeological Institute of the University of Vienna in 1998 ("Late Antique and Early Byzantine Wall Paintings and Mosaics")

Vanya Popova was a lecturer at the New Bulgarian University from 1994 -2005 and lectured on Roman art, ancient sculpture and ancient fine art.

After her retirement in 2019, she continued actively working as an independent researcher as a regular guest at international forums such as AIEMA Мosaic Аssociation, Nis and Byzantium, International Congress of Roman Portrait, etc. and publishing new research locally and internationally for Studia Academica šumenensia, International journal for the study of mosaic art, Journal of Mosaic Research and many more.

Vania Popova died on the 27th of July, 2024, in her home in Sofia, Bulgaria. She left a rich scientific heritage and supported the development of many talented Bulgarian academics.