Corr. Member, Prof. Ivanka Gergova, D.Sc., Celebrates Her 70th Anniversary

Today, Corr. Member, Prof. Ivanka Gergova, D.Sc., celebrates her 70th anniversary. Prof. Joanna Spassova-Dikova, PhD, Director of the Institute of Art Studies – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, congratulated her with a congratulatory address. It highlights the contributions of Prof. Gergova in science and the special importance she has for the Institute:
“There are many reasons to be proud of you – your rich lore, broad general cultural interests, the sense of new thematic fields, the importance of facts and details unnoticed by others, your discipline and tireless creative energy have made you a pillar of Bulgarian art history. The array of new knowledge that your studies on Orthodox art and culture in the Balkans bring to the humanities in Bulgaria is respectable. It is no coincidence that your publications are leading in their many citations in the relevant professional field – from those who study church painting and woodcarving, the cults of saints, relics, and miraculous icons, to those dedicated to icon-painters and their associations, to artistic life in individual settlements, areas, and centres of Orthodoxy, to the study and publication of museum collections, etc. The list is extensive and worthy of a corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, as you have been for over a decade.
We are grateful that you have connected your academic destiny with the Institute of Art Studies and have become an example not only of a high standard in scientific research but also of scientific integrity, morality, and professional ethics! We are grateful that for decades you have taken care of the prestige and prosperity of the Institute not only as an internationally recognised scholar, but also in your capacity as a long-standing head of sector, chairperson of the Scientific Council, Deputy Director, head of International and national projects, member of editorial boards and councils, lecturer, mentor of graduates and doctoral students, expert member of national committees and councils and just a good, principled, and valuable person.
May you always be an active part of the Institute’s life, and may many more happy and fruitful years await you in the future, in which to preserve your impressive enthusiasm and inspiration to discover new topics and continue to create science!
Happy anniversary! May you be healthy and blessed, may the high recognition of your work multiply! You deserve it!”