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Dragan Damjanović is a full professor at the Art History Department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb.

He was born in Osijek in 1978. After studying history and history of art in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zagreb (1997-2002) he pursued his academic career at the same institution, at the Art History Department. In 2005 he obtained an MA degree with the thesis entitled Architect Fran Funtak and in 2007 earned a PhD degree after defending the thesis entitled Đakovo Cathedral. He was elected full professor in 2019. Since November 2012 he has held the position of Chair of Modern Art and Visual Communication.

His main research interests are related to the history of Croatian and Central European art and architecture of the 19th and 20th century. He has published 19 books and numerous papers, curated exhibitions and organized congresses related to this subject. Most of his papers were published in Croatian. However, he has also published several papers in English in various journals (Centropa, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Zeitschrift fur Kunstgeschichte, Architectura-Zeitschrift fur Geschichte der Baukunst, Umění/Art, Acta Historiae Artium, RIHA Journal) and in edited books.

He independently curated several exhibitions: Viennese Academy of Fine Arts on Croatian 19th century architecture (Glyptotheque of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences, Zagreb, 2011), Synagogues of Vukovar architect Fran Funtak (Jewish Community Gallery, Zagreb, 2014), Architect Herman Bollé (Arts and Crafts Museum, Zagreb, 2015), and Otto Wagner and Croatian Architecture (Croatian Embassy in Vienna, Modern Gallery, Zagreb, Vienna, October – December, 2018). Furthermore he participated in the organization of the exhibitions: Slavonija, Baranja and Srijem (Klovićevi dvori Gallery, Zagreb, 2009), Expressionism in Croatia (Klovićevi dvori Gallery, Zagreb, 2011), Journey to Eternity (Klovićevi dvori Gallery, Zagreb, 2016), Ars et Virtus. Croatia – Hungary. 800 years of common heritage (coauthor, Zagreb-Budapest, 2020-2021).

With his colleagues from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, he organized international conferences Art and Politics in Europe in the Modern Period (Zagreb, Croatia, 29 June – 1 July 2016) and Art and the State in Modern Central Europe (18th – 21st Century) (Zagreb, Croatia, 30 June – 3 July 2021).

On two occasions he was awarded the Ernst Mach Scholarship offered by the Austrian Agency for International Mobility and Cooperation in Education, Science and Research (ÖAD). The scholarship comprised a two-month study visit to Vienna (in October and November 2005 and in March and April 2008). Within the academic exchange programme he was on a one week research stays in Krakow/Poland ( April 2012), Pécs/Hungary (April 2013), Padua/Italy (April 2014) and Warsaw/Poland (April 2019).

In spring 2002 he joined the European project Geschichte Südosteuropas als europäische Geschichte (History of Southeast Europe as European History) headed by Prof. Holm Sundhaussen from the Institute for East-European Studies of the Free University in Berlin, and organized by the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. As part of the project, he spent two months (November and December 2004) at the Free University in Berlin.

He headed projects Croatia and Central Europe: Art and Politics in the Late Modern Period (1780-1945) (2014 – 2017) and Art and the State in Croatia from the Enlightenment to the Present (2017-2023), funded by Croatian Science Foundation.

Currently, along with the Croatian Science Foundation project, he has been heading project Shaping (Post)Modern Life funded by the University of Zagreb.

He was awarded with 6 national awards for his work, of which most important are: Croatian National Scientific Award (2006), Zagreb City Council Award (2015), and Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Annual Award (2016).

Major works: Djakovo Cathedral, Zagreb, 2009; Architect Herman Bollé, Zagreb, 2015; Zagreb: Architectural Atlas, Zagreb, 2016; Otto Wagner und die kroatische Architektur, Zagreb, 2018; Art and Politics in the Modern Period (co-editor), Zagreb, 2019; Great Zagreb Earthquakes, Zagreb, 2021; Ars et Virtus. Croatia-Hungary: 800 Years Of Shared Cultural Heritage (coeditor), Zagreb, Budapest, 2020; Forging Architectural Tradition. National Narratives, Monument Preservation and Architectural Work in the Nineteenth Century (coeditor with Aleksander Łupienko), Berghahn, New York, Oxford, 2022.