The task of the Research Centre is to select the edition of the manuscript estate of the important explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769 - 1859), the complete edition of his dependent publications, and the historical analysis of the scientific heritage. Extensive collections of copies of letters from and to Humboldt as well as of his travel diaries have been created for this purpose. These and…
The Berliner Klassik project will examine whether an interdisciplinary reconstruction of Berlin's unusual cultural heyday between 1786 and 1815 can provide an alternative to the Weimar-Jenaic Classicism. To this end, known and less known works and events of this epoch will be related to their internal and external correspondence and oppositions, their socio-cultural prerequisites and their…
Ecclesiastical law had a lasting influence on Western and Central Europe until the 20th century and contributed fundamentally to the emergence of common European legal foundations. The ways in which these influences were transmitted are manifold and go back a long way. For it was not only since the 12th century - as is often claimed - that Europe developed into a unified area in many respects in…
The historical significance of Christian Gottfried Nees von Esenbecks (1776 - 1858) lies in his scientific life's work as a botanist, zoologist and natural philosopher and in his committed socio-political effects. His life and work is in many ways a mirror of the scientific as well as the general history of the first half of the 19th century. Especially in his extensive correspondence lies the key…
The “Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi Deutschland” (CVMA) is part of the international “Corpus Vitrearum”, which was founded in 1952 to document and scientifically develop the entire inventory of medieval stained glass in Europe as well as in museums in the USA and Canada. The project's tasks are to set up an inventory and to document the medieval as well as the post-medieval glass paintings and their…
The comprehensive Dictionary of historical German (and West Germanic) Legal Language explains and illustrates legally relevant vocabulary from the beginning of German written tradition (around AD 400) to 1815. Its basis is formed by an archive of roughly 2.5 million word quotations.
A volume of the Dictionary comprises 5 double fascicles of 320 columns each. The fascicles appear on a yearly…
The German Dictionary is a historical dictionary of the meaning of the New High German language. It contains the common German vocabulary from the middle of the 15th century to the present in alphabetical order. It was planned and started by the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, who are regarded as the founders of German studies. According to their imagination and model, the dictionary presents…
At the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz and in cooperation with the Technical University of Darmstadt, a digital dictionary of surnames is being developed. For the first time, this dictionary records all currently existing family names Germany (also foreign names) lexicographically, maps them and etymologizes them with the help of maps.
The DWDS dictionary is based on the six-volume “Wörterbuch der deutschen Gegenwartssprache” and on other sources, such as on parts of the “Großes Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache” published by the Dudenverlag. It provides the user with state-of-the-art spelling, pronunciation in form of audio files and a wide range of information on the form, usage and meaning of approximately 210,000 keywords.…
The Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales (EM) is a handbook on historical and comparative narrative research. It comprehensively presents the results of one and a half centuries of international research work in the field of folk narrative traditions in the past and present. The work focuses on the oral and literary narrative forms of Europe and the cultures influenced by Europe, but also endeavours to…
Over a period of three centuries - from the first half of the 16th century until 1806 - the imperial Aulic Council was one of the most important institutions of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. As high court, supreme feudal house, administration institution of the imperial privileges and as political advisory body of the emperor the institution shaped the destiny of Central Europe in…
The purpose of the project is to create an edition of the collected works of the historian of philosophy and religious philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach (1804 - 1872). Especially through his criticism of Hegel, in his writing "Das Wesen des Christentums“ as well as the drafts for a "Philosophie der Zukunft" and his "Vorlesungen über das Wesen der Religion“ Ludwig Feuerbach has a lasting influence on…
This project aims to edit all of Büchner's surviving writings – including excerpts – in an critical manner based on the manuscripts or first editions, and will be published by the Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft Darmstadt. The documentary material on the genesis of his writings as well as on his life and early repception is completly reproduced. Further focal points are the documentation of the…
With the project “Grundlagen, Normen und Kriterien der ethischen Urteilsbildung in den Biowissenschaften – Referenzzentrum” the German Reference Centre for Ethics in the Life Sciences (DRZE) creates the scientific basis for a qualified bioethical discussion in a German, European, and International framework. For this purpose, the relevant interdisciplinary information, the social issues that have…
The "ground plan" of the history of German poetry from its sources is the basic work of German literary historical research that was simultaneously developed and grown with the subject. The aim is to explore and process all the essential historical facts and data on the development of German literature from its beginning to the end of the 19th century. The chronological presentation of the…
Based on a contractual agreement, the historical-critical Hegel edition of the Academy will be produced in the Hegel Archive, an institution of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. The edition has three sections: the first section has been the subject of the work of the last three decades. Eighteen of the twenty-two volumes planned for the first section, containing Hegel's publications and manuscripts,…
The Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig took over the project initiated by the Saxon Commission for History in 1896 with the establishment of a office site in 1992. The "Atlas zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Sachsen" is being produced in cooperation between the Academy, the Saxony State Surveying Office and the Dresden University of Applied Sciences (FH).
The task of the project is to compile the German and foreign-language new publications on all subject areas of German history on the basis of the autopsy principle as completely as possible and to make them accessible in form and content. The reporting period covers the period from the birth of Christ to the present day. It covers the entire range of scientific publications such as monographs,…
Documentary handbook on the tradition of ancient and medieval literature in the early modern period. A bibliographical and at the same time documentary repertory is being compiled, which covers the entire field of the literary reception history of antiquity and the Middle Ages for the period between 1500 and 1630, including later reprints (up to the 19th century). In accordance with the…
The Edition of Martin Bucer's German Writings is the German branch of the international project of a first historical-critical complete edition of Martin Bucer's works, the other two parts (Latin works and correspondence) of which are being developed at the University of Strasbourg and the University of Erlangen.
The Strasbourg reformer Martin Bucer (Butzer) has considerable significance for the…