Virgínia de Bivar Robertes Rau (4/9 December 1907 – 2 November 1973) was a Portuguese archaeologist and historian. She was an expert on Portuguese and Portuguese colonial history and author of many history books. She was the daughter of Luís Rau, Jr. (1865–1943) of German descent, and his wife Matilde de Bivar de Paula Robertes (1879–1961) of Spanish descent, who married in Lisbon in 1902. She enrolled in the Faculty of Letters of the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, th ...

in 1927, but the following year went aboard, where she attended several courses including at the

University of Toulouse The University of Toulouse (french: Université de Toulouse) was a university in the French city of Toulouse that was established by papal bull in 1229, making it one of the earliest universities to emerge in Europe. Suppressed during the Frenc ...

. In 1939, due to the beginning of the Second World War, she returned to Lisbon, where she joined the Historical and Philosophical Sciences of the Faculty of Arts. A member of the

Academia Portuguesa da História An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

, Rau published a vast collection of works on Portuguese and colonial medieval and modern history.GARCIA, José Manuel. RAU, Virgínia. ''Estudos Sobre a História do Sal Português'' (in Portuguese). Lisboa : Editorial Presença, 1984. On 2 July 1969 she was awarded the rank of Grand Officer of the

Order of Public Instruction The Order of Public Instruction is a Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese diale ...

. ''Portuguese Studies Review'' cites her as a pioneer of the historiographical research of Timor governor , after a work she published in 1956. She has also commented on the economic history of Brazil and Angola.

References

Portuguese archaeologists Portuguese women archaeologists 20th-century Portuguese historians Women historians 20th-century archaeologists University of Lisbon alumni Portuguese people of German descent Portuguese people of Spanish descent 1907 births 1973 deaths 20th-century Portuguese women writers {{archaeologist-stub