Dr Helen Philon

Helen Philon is a scholar with an M.Ph. in Pre-Islamic Art and a PhD on Bahmani Deccan architecture from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Helen was the curator of the Islamic Department at the Benaki Museum in Athens, Greece and has published works on architecture and conservation.

Helen fell in love with the Deccan while studying the region for her doctoral dissertation. Her desire to preserve the historic monuments of this region’s for future as she felt a particular affinity for places located at across road of civilization where different cultures can interact. In its ruins she saw an unending dialogue between the various civilizations that flourished in the Deccan for thousand of years.

Helen was instrumental in the founding of the Deccan Heritage Foundation  in the UK and India as well as that of the American Friends of the Deccan Heritage Foundation in the US.