Barbara Kristina Murovec

Dr. Barbara Kristina Murovec serves as a Visiting Scholar at the Max Planck Institute of Art History in Florence, a prestigious research institution founded in 1897 and part of the Max Planck Society since 2002. The institute functions as a laboratory for fundamental art historical research with a focus on transcultural and global perspectives, particularly regarding Italy, Europe, and the Mediterranean region.

Her research interests span multiple areas of art history, with particular expertise in Baroque ceiling painting from the 16th-18th centuries and 19th-20th century sculpture within the contexts of the Habsburg Monarchy and Yugoslavia. She has developed specialized knowledge in collecting and patronage studies, provenance research, and iconography. Her work also explores the intersections of art history with politics, ethics, identity, and trauma, particularly war-related trauma.

Dr. Murovec has coordinated significant international research projects, including the EU HERA project 'Transfer of Cultural Objects in the Alpe Adria Region in the 20th Century' (TransCultAA), whose monograph was published by Böhlau. Her current research focuses on Ignaz Maria Count Attems as a patron of Baroque ceiling painting and the 'Materiality' of Visual Knowledge of Travelling Patrons.

She has held prominent leadership roles including Director of the France Stele Institute for Art History at the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (2005-2018) and Secretary and Second Vice President of RIHA (International Association of Research Institutes in the History of Art) (2010-2016).

Dr. Murovec's academic journey includes previous visiting scholar positions at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles and the Central Institute for Art History in Munich. She earned her doctorate in Ljubljana in 2000 and completed her habilitation in Maribor in 2009, where she taught from 2010 to 2019. Her educational background includes studies in art history and comparative literature across multiple European institutions in Ljubljana, Munich, Vienna, and Graz.