Eleni Vassilika is an art historian and museum professional specializing in Classical and Egyptian art (PhD 1989, MA 1982 Inst of Fine Arts NYU, BA Brooklyn College 1979)). She was Keeper of Antiquities at the Fitzwilliam Museum (1990-2000), Director of the Roemer-und Pelizaeus Museum (2000-2005), Director of the Museo Egizio di Torino (2005-2014), Curatorial Director at the UK’s National Trust (2014-2015), free-lance curator and latterly consultant Curatorial Director, Zayed National Museum, Abu Dhabi (2021).

As museum director she was involved in major capital projects and gallery installations, while also curating numerous temporary exhibitions, writing catalogues and guidebooks. In Germany and Italy, she guided the transition of her institutions from the previous public administrative sphere into private management. She has taught/lectured on subjects ranging from art history to museum studies throughout her career (Cambridge, Bocconi, Luiss, Sorbonne Abu Dhabi, Sotheby’s Institute). She is a founding member of the Society for the History of Collecting for which she organizes lectures and conferences (spoliation of national patrimony) and writes book reviews. Awarded a British School in Rome Fellowship in 2018, she is working on a publication of an iconographic study of a large Roman bronze altar table and the reception of the Isis Cult in Rome.