Hilkka Hiiop will be the Rector of the Estonian Academy of Arts from 4 April 2025.
Hilkka Hiiop graduated from Kopli Art School (now Tallinn Art Gymnasium) in 1992 and from the University of Tartu in 1997, majoring in art history. She obtained her Master’s degree in 2004 from the Estonian Academy of Arts in the field of heritage conservation and conservation, defending her thesis on ‘Theoretical and methodological starting points for the conservation of contemporary art in Estonia’. In 2012, Hiiop defended her doctoral dissertation in the same field at the Estonian Academy of Arts on “Contemporary art in museums: how to conserve the non-existent? A strategy and method for preserving the contemporary art collection of the Art Museum of Estonia”.
Hilkka Hiiop has worked at the Estonian Academy of Arts as the head of the Painting Conservation Studio (2003-2012) and Associate Professor (2013-2017). From 2013 to 2017 she worked as a conservation specialist at the Art Museum of Estonia. Since 2017, he has been Professor of Heritage Conservation and Conservation at the Estonian Academy of Arts. From 2021 to 2025, Hiiop was Dean of the Faculty of Art and Culture.
Hiiop is co-author of more than one hundred and twenty publications and has been a supervisor of more than twenty dissertations. Hiiop has curated several exhibitions and conducted international conservation and heritage projects. Her professional focus ranges from medieval to modern art and from murals to modern installations, both as a conservator and as a researcher
In 2011, the Estonian Ministry of Culture awarded Hiiop with the annual prize “Conservator of the Year” for the exhibitions “Samson and Delila. The Story of Italian Painting” and “Bosch & Bruegel. Four Paintings Magnified”.
In 2017, Hiiop was awarded the European Union and Europa Nostra Prize for the Protection of Monuments and Sites for his research and conservation project of the medieval altar of Hermen Rode in the Niguliste Church.
In 2017, the Estonian Association of Art Historians and Curators awarded Hiiop the Annual Prize for the research project “Christian Ackermann. Tallinn Pheidias, sublime and talented” (2016-2020) together with Tiina Mall Kreem, Anneli Randla, Isabel Aaso-Zahradnikova, Triin Kröönström and Andres Uuen.
In 2017, the President of the Republic of Estonia awarded Hiiop with the Order of the White Star, 4th Class.
In 2025, Hiiop was awarded the State Culture Prize for the restoration of the Baroque ceiling painting of the Estonian Knighthood House.