Miguel Ángel Elvira Barba

Biographies

Miguel Ángel Elvira Barba

Director from 19 July 2000 to 1 October 2004

After graduating from the Complutense University of Madrid with a degree in Philosophy and Letters, having specialised in Art History and Spanish Literature, he went on to earn a PhD from that university in 1978, where he is now a professor of Art History.Salto de línea His research and popular science initiatives address the cultures of Classical Antiquity, with a particular focus on Greece and Etruria, Byzantine art and the practice of collecting ancient sculptures in the 17th and 18th centuries. He has curated various exhibitions in Spain and abroad, published more than 15 books and authored approximately 150 research papers and essays.Salto de línea He is a corresponding fellow of the Royal Academy of History, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Seville and the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin, among other titles and distinctions.Salto de línea Between 1997 and 1999 he was head of the Conservation Department for Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Prado Museum, and from 2000 to 2004 he was director of the National Archaeological Museum. Salto de línea During his term, the museum participated in over 200 exhibitions, either by loaning works from its collections to other institutions or displaying them in shows hosted by the museum. A large number of acquisitions were made during this period, particularly for the Numismatics and Medieval Antiquities departments, and the museum continued its cultural promotion efforts by organising specialised conferences, lectures and courses given by staff members and guest experts.