Renata Holod


Renata Holod is an art/architectural historian and archaeologist of the Islamic world. She is the College for Women Class of 1963 Term Professor in the Humanities in the History of Art Department, and Curator of the Near East Section, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. Holod has taught at Penn since 1972, and was a visiting Clark Professor at Williams College in 2002. She has conducted and/or directed archaeological fieldwork in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Morocco, Turkey, Ukraine, and Tunisia.
Holod earned her B.A. degree in Islamic Studies at the University of Toronto in 1964; her M.A. in History of Art from the University of Michigan in 1965, and her Ph.D. in Fine Arts from Harvard University in 1972. As a professor, she has supervised over fifty Ph.D. theses from students in a range of fields, including History of Art, Architecture, Urban Planning, Religious Studies, Middle East Studies, and Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World.
In 1977, Holod was the Convenor of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and Designer of the Award Procedures, served on the Steering Committee for the award in 1980-83 and 1993–96, and was Chair of the Master Jury in 1992. She has consulted on architectural projects in Iraq ; the United States ; and the United Arab Emirates.
As a curator, Holod has created exhibitions in the United States and Turkey.
She serves on numerous advisory boards and committees, including the Advisory Board of Muqarnas: Annual in Islamic Art and Visual Culture ; the Scientific Committee of the Fondation Max Van Berchem ; the Advisory Board of the International Journal of Islamic Architecture, and the Advisory Board of Arts Asiatiques. Holod is a Senior Fellow of the Kolb Society at the Penn Museum, and has been honored with the King Fahd Award for Teaching the Architecture of Muslim Cultures, the Islamic Environmental Design Achievement Award, and the Provost’s Award for Mentorship of Graduate Students. Her former students published a festschrift in her honor in 2014.
Prof. Holod has supervised and mentored over fifty students at various institutions, including the University of Pennsylvania, where she has overseen at least forty doctoral dissertations.
Holod is a past President of the Historians of Islamic Art Association. She has been member of the Board of Trustees of The Ukrainian Museum since 2011, and President since 2013.

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