On March 31th 2012 in Sofia passed away Prof. Dr. Sc. Yordanka Yurukova,
member-correspondent of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

 

Prof. Dr. Sc. Yordanka Yurukova
(1936-2012)

In 1962 Prof. Yurukova entered the National Institute of Archaeology with Museum of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and till today she devoted her studies to one and only major theme – numismatics. Her achievements in the sphere of the Thracian coinage, the study of urban coinages of  Moesia Inferior and Thracia provinces during the Roman Age, along with her deep interest in the Medieval Bulgarian and Byzantine sphragistica, outline her broad range of research, which was crowned with a praiseworthy academic career. In 1962 she received the degree of Doctor of the University of Paris. In the same year she was appointed a PhD at NIAM, and in 1974 was elected Ass. Prof. In 1984 she defended her Doctorate thesis, and in 1987 she became Professor. In 1989 she was chosen for a Head of the Department of Numismatics and Epigraphy at the National Institute of Archaeology and Museum, and since 1991 she held the position of Deputy Director of NIAM. At three research contests that were carried out in 1993, 1995 and 1999, Prof. Yurukova was proposed by her colleagues and was elected for the position of Director of the National Archaeological Institute and Museum – a post which she dedicatedly fulfilled till 2003, when she retired. In 2008 she was elected a member-correspondent of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

This venerable fifty years of creative and professional life, Prof. Yurukova, with her inherent daring, devoted to his favorite science – numismatics, to her colleagues from the Archaeological Institute and the Archaeological Museum, as well as to her students. She generously endowed generations of students with her professionalism and extensive erudition. Since 1975 till today, Prof. Yurukova was celebrated lecturer in many Bulgarian and foreign universities. Among her merits were the traditional lectures on numismatics, carried out for decades in the most prestigious Bulgarian University – St. Kliment Ohridski Sofia University. Since 1987 she lectured in the Collège de France and the Sorbonne, in the University of Upsala, the University of Geneva, the University of Munich, Frankfurt am Main, San Diego ... The Bulgarian and the international numismatic societies honor the academic contributions of Prof. Yurukova, praising her with many awards and honorary memberships. In 2002 she was elected honorary member of the Belgian Royal Numismatic Society.

Prof. Yurukova was not only a fascinating lecturer and respected professional, but also the first Bulgarian numismatist, who in the 1980s created a highly professional numismatic school with disciples significant in number. Nowadays, twenty years later, she bequeathed to us – her colleagues from NIAM-BAS, the responsibility to continue her efforts in building a modern numismatic science, supported by modern Numismatic Depot. To talk about our Bulgarian Numismatic Cabinet with dignity and confidence, as it matches some major international public collections all over the world, the greatest contribution belongs to our dear colleague and friend – Professor Yordanka Yurukova. 

 

LAST GOODBYE, DEAR PROFESSOR YURUKOVA!

AETERNA MEMORIA!

National Institute of Archaeology with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences