Theofan Popa, epigraphist, researcher of medieval art, was born in Elbasan. He studied at the theological seminary in Bitola (1926-1936) and then attended higher studies in Athens in the theological department for two years. He is the author of many study articles on medieval cultural monuments, especially on the painters Onufri, Kostandin Shpataraku, etc. He published the books: “Piktorët mesjetarë shqiptarë” (“Albanian medieval painters”)(1961), “Ikona dhe miniatura mesjetare” (“Medieval icons and miniatures”)(1974), equipped with the necessary illustrations and condensed text, with important scientific research values. His main work “Mbishkrime të kishave në Shqipëri” (“Inscriptions of churches in Albania”) (1998) has multiple documentary significance and constitutes the synthesis of his activity of several decades in finding, collecting, processing and systematizing the church inscriptions of Albania. He passed away in Tirana, in 1985. In 2006, his other work “Miniatura dhe piktura mesjetare në Shqipëri, shekujt VI–XIV” (“Medieval miniatures and paintings, centuries VI-XIV”) was published. (In the photo: Theofan Popa during field expeditions.)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2065.
Photo: © Rëmbeci A., personal archive.
Graphic processing: AHCF
