Christina Maranci

Christina Maranci (born 1968) is an Armenian-American researcher, writer, translator, historian, and professor at currently serving as the Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University. She is considered an expert on the history and development of Armenian architecture.

Life Maranci was born in 1968 in the United States and grew up in Connecticut. She is of Armenian descent. Her father was born in Istanbul, Turkey and her mother was born in the United States. She received her Ph.D. at Princeton University in 1998 in the Art and Archeology department with her dissertation Medieval Armenian Architecture in Historiography: Josef Strzygowski and his Legacy. She also audited courses with Nina Garsoïan at New York University.

She was an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee from 2001 to 2004, and an associate professor there through 2008. From 2008 to 2016 she was an associate professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Tufts University, and from 2016 to 2022, a full professor.

In 2022 she was appointed to the Mashtots Chair of Armenian Studies at Harvard University, becoming the first woman and the first person of Armenian descent in that position.

Notable fellowship and awards Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Fellowship (1995–1997) Mellon Dissertation Research Fellowship, Princeton University (1997–1998) Tufts University – Faculty and Research Award (2010)

She is featured in the 2011 book Encyclopedia of Prominent Armenian Women edited by Zori Balayan.

Works Maranci's research is mainly on medieval Armenian history and the relationship with the Sasanian, Byzantine, and Islamic empires. Maranci's 2001 book Medieval Armenian Architecture: Constructions of Race and Nation highlights art historian Josef Strzygowski and his important contributions and influence in the studies of Armenian architecture. The languages Maranci researches in include Italian, English, German, French, Armenian (Classical Armenian and Modern Armenian) and Greek.

Books Medieval Armenian Architecture: Constructions of Race and Nation (2001) A Survival Guide for Art History Students (2004) Vigilant Powers: Three Churches of Early Medieval Armenia (2015) The Art of Armenia: An Introduction (2018)