Centre for Advanced Study Sofia
Bulgaria
fellow
Lyudmila Klasanova
2025-2026
Home institution
University of Bergen
Country of origin (home institution)
Bulgaria
Discipline(s)
Arts and arts studies
Literature
Religious sciences
Theme(s)
Cultural Studies
Religion
Visual Arts
Fellowship dates
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Biography
Dr. Lyudmila Klasanova is a lecturer in Asian religious traditions and a scholar specializing in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Women in Buddhism, and Buddhist art. She is currently based in Bergen, Norway. She holds a Ph.D. in Indian and Tibetan Literature and Culture, as well as a Master’s degree in East Asian Cultures from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski,” where she has been teaching since 2008. In addition, she serves as a research assistant in Religious Studies at the University of Bergen, where she also completed a Master’s degree in Religious Studies. She further specialized in Buddhist Philology at the MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society. Her first book, Female Figure in Buddhism of India and Tibet (East West Indological Foundation, 2018), offers a comprehensive examination of the development of female figures in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism—from Early Buddhism to the contemporary period—with particular emphasis on their symbolism, iconography, and roles within textual and ritual traditions. Her second book, currently in press with Equinox Publishing, investigates the concept of femininity in Vajrayāna Buddhism, with particular emphasis on its sacred and esoteric dimensions. Klasanova has published on a range of topics including women in Tantric Buddhism of India and Tibet, comparative studies of the ḍākinī in Hindu and Buddhist Tantrism, Buddhism in Bulgaria, as well as Buddhist art and literature.
Research Project
Buddhist-Christian Interactions between Tibet, Italy, and Bulgaria: The Wheel of Life in Alphabetum Tibetanum (1762) and Its Possible Influence on Zahari Zograf’s Mural at the Transfiguration Monastery (1849-1850)
The project explores Buddhist-Christian interactions between Tibet, Italy, and Bulgaria by examining the depiction of the Wheel of Life (Skt. bhāvacakra; Tib. srid pa'i 'khor lo) in the Alphabetum Tibetanum (1762) and its possible influence on Zahari Zograf’s mural at the Transfiguration Monastery (1849–1850). The Alphabetum Tibetanum, a comprehensive study of the Tibetan language and culture authored by the Italian Jesuit missionary and scholar Antonio Agostino Giorgi (1711–1797), contains one of the earliest European representations of the bhāvacakra. An engraving of the bhāvacakra from the Alphabetum Tibetanum became part of Zahari Zograf’s collection and is believed to have influenced the creation of the iconic Wheel of Life mural at the Transfiguration Monastery, a landmark in Bulgarian art. This research investigates the transmission of theological and visual motifs related to the Wheel of Life from its Tibetan origins through the Alphabetum Tibetanum to Eastern Orthodox Christian art, focusing on how Zograf’s mural may reflect Buddhist cosmological concepts. Through an interdisciplinary approach that combines historical, theological, and iconographical analysis with comparative study, the project examines the role of missionary scholarship and cross-cultural artistic exchanges in shaping religious iconography. By tracing these interactions, the study aims to provide new insights into the diffusion of Buddhist imagery within Christian contexts and the broader intellectual exchanges between Tibet, Catholic Europe, and Orthodox Bulgaria in the 18th and 19th centuries. Furthermore, by enhancing the understanding of Buddhist-Christian interactions in theology and art, the research will contribute to interreligious dialogue.
Research Interests:
Indo-Tibetan Buddhism; women in Buddhism; Buddhist art; Religious traditions in Asia