Anu Kaisa Koponen
Job Title: Researcher (since 2009)
Institutional affiliation: Independent researcher, Institutum Romanum Finlandiae
D.Sc – History of Architecture, Helsinki University of Technology; MFA, Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. Architectural and art historian specialized in ancient Roman architecture and art and their impact on later European architecture. I have analysed the role of an ornament both in architectural practise and theory in my licentiate thesis (2003) on architectural decor from antiquity to the 20th century as well as in doctoral dissertation Vitruvius and the Domestic Fantasy World: Roman Wall Paintings in their Architectural Context (2009). Recently, I have published articles of the relationship between ancient monumental architecture of Athens and Rome as well as Egyptian motifs of domestic wall paintings revealing every-day practises in the urban texture of Pompeii. Currently, I am studying the impact of ancient Roman architecture and art in social housing architecture of the 1920s and 1930s in Garbatella and Donna Olimpia in Rome and Käpylä in Helsinki.
Publications
Koponen, A. K. “Egyptian Cults in Pompeian Domestic Wall Paintings”. In Tangible Religion. Materiality of Domestic Cult Practices from Antiquity to Early Modern Era, edited by R. Berg, A. Coralini, A.K. Koponen and R. Välimäki. Acta Instituti Romani Finlandiae 49, 177-208. Roma: Edizioni Quasar, 2021. http://irfrome.org/language/en/acta-instituti-romani-finlandiae-49-3/
Koponen, A. K. “Rooman laitakaupungin enigma – Via Donna Olimpian sosiaalisen asunto-tuotannon historia / Enigma of the Roman Suburb – The social habitation quarter of Via Donna Olimpia”. In Kuin kissat Largo Argentiinalla: flaneerausta ja assimilaatiota kaupunkitilassa – Aino Niskasen juhlakirja, edited by N. Böök, J. Heikonen, A. Nissi and K. Vesikansa, 128 -145. Espoo: Aalto-yliopiston Arkkitehtuurin historian juhlakirjatoimitus, 2018.
Koponen, A. K. “Roman Architects in Athens (200-10 BC)”. In Italian Vernadoc 2015 -Amandola, studying Italia and its architecture the first 10 VERNADOC-years, edited by M. Mattila, 14-25. Helsinki: CIAV of ICOMOS Finland, 2015. https://www.academia.edu/16296938/Roman_Architects_in_Athens_200_-_10_BC_
Koponen, A. K. “Vitruvius and the Domestic Fantasy World: Roman Wall Paintings in their Architectural Context”. Doctoral dissertation, Studies in Architecture 2009/40. Espoo: Helsinki University of Technology. http://www.anukaisakoponen.altervista.org/
Koponen, A. K. “Antiikin Rooman seinämaalaus – arkkitehtuurin osa vai turha koriste; antiikin auktorien tulkinnat ja varhaisten seinämaalausten kohtalot / Ancient Roman Wall Painting – An Essential Part of Architecture or Meaningless Decoration; Ancient Texts and their Interpretations”. Licentiate thesis, Department of Architecture, Helsinki University of Technology, 2003.