Aleksandra Faber, dr.

Biography

Prof Aleksandra Faber, PhD, (Sevnica, 1925) was a Croatian archaeologist and architect. She graduated in Architecture from the Technical Faculty in Zagreb in 1954, while simultaneously attending lectures in archaeology and participating in archaeological excavations. She obtained her doctorate in 1965 from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb with the thesis Problems of the typology of ancient settlements in the territory of our country.

From 1959, she worked as an archaeology officer at the Conservation Institute of Croatia in Zagreb, and from 1961 at the Institute for Art History and Archaeology of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. From 1986 until her retirement in 1990, she served as the Head of the Department of Archaeology. Independently or in collaboration with other experts, she led archaeological excavations at numerous sites, including Zadar, Muline on Ugljan, Šćitarjevo, Varaždinske Toplice, Sepen near Omišalj, Osor and Krk. In her scientific work, she focused on archaeological topography, architectural monuments and settlement complexes, as well as the protection and valorisation of prehistoric, Roman and later architectural heritage.

During the 1980s, she also participated in interdisciplinary research on Velebit’s cultural heritage organised by Prof Ante Glavičić, in which Mirjana Trošelj also took part. She was particularly interested in the life of Velebit shepherds, their relationship to death and the phenomenon of mirila.

In her work Mirilo, the grave of the soul of the Velebit inhabitant, she describes the architecture and symbolism of mirila, examining them within the broader cultural and historical context of the funerary customs of the Velebit people. Her contribution to the research of mirila also stems from an interdisciplinary approach linking archaeology, architecture, space and traditional rituals.