Nikola Mihaylov Piperkov

Nikola Mihaylov Piperkov serves as a Lecturer in the Department of Old and Medieval History at the Faculty of History, St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo. Holding a PhD from Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (2018), he specializes in European art history with particular emphasis on Bulgarian-French academic connections.

His educational background centers on his doctoral dissertation Les visages de Mercure: commerce, alchimie, éloquence et arts d'imitation à l'époque moderne completed under Prof. Colette Nativel at the Sorbonne. This foundational work established his expertise in mythological iconography that continues to inform his current research.

Dr. Piperkov's research explores the intersections of Egyptomania, Late Medieval visual culture (14th-15th c.), and Renaissance humanism with Bulgarian cultural heritage. His methodology combines traditional art historical analysis with digital humanities approaches, as evidenced by his 2023 VR reconstruction of the Christian Brothers' novitiate. Recent publications reveal increasing engagement with political iconography in Baroque Europe and cross-cultural exchanges between Bulgarian and Western European artistic traditions, particularly through mythological motifs like Mercury. His work consistently demonstrates how religious institutions shaped artistic production in Lyon and Bulgaria.

Analysis of his 15 most recent publications shows dominant themes in Mercury iconography (appearing in 8 articles), Lyon's architectural history (6 articles), and Renaissance mythography (5 articles). The geographic scope spans France (12 articles), Bulgaria (4 articles), and transnational European connections (7 articles), with a notable methodological shift toward digital reconstruction techniques in his 2023-2025 output.

Currently participating in the 2025 project Магнаурската школа и българската култура (The Magnaura School and Bulgarian Culture), he contributes to international interdisciplinary research commemorating the 650th anniversary of the Magnaura School's founding. This project aims to create digital educational resources while fostering collaboration between established and emerging researchers across theology, history, archaeology, and cultural studies.