While provenance traditionally documents the chronological history of circulating objects, and where their origin and ownership may more easily become dubious, this research project proposes three radical operations when transposing the 18th century concept from discourses on art, archeology, and ethnographica, into architecture. Our overall objective is based on the hypothesis that the concept is […]

The project Piranesi and the Modern Age explores the impact of Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-78) on literature, film, photography, art, architecture and urban planning in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It evolves around the idea that Piranesi’s etchings more than influenced the modern age, as the idea of the modern as such hinged on continuous re-interpretations of […]

Printing the Past. Architecture, Print Culture, and Uses of the Past in Modern Europe (PriArc) is an international, multidisciplinary research project funded by the EU’s HERA program (Humanities in the European Research Area). The project examines the relationship between architecture, print culture, and uses of the past in modern Europe and beyond. Looking primarily at […]

The quest for Jerusalem, earthly and celestial, has had formative impact throughout the entire history of the Western world. As the site of the Jewish temple and the scene of Christ’s death and resurrection, Jerusalem became the axis mundi, the locus of divine presence on earth and a signpost to the goal of history. The […]

The Printed and the Built. Architecture and Public Debate in Modern Europe studies the relationship between the built environment and print culture in 19th century and early 20th century Europe. In this period, a host of new public media developed, altering the way architecture was discussed, understood, and – ultimately – built. Looking particularly at […]

The objectives of the interdisciplinary research project Topos and Topography: Rome as the Guidebook City are to trace the origins and developments of the guidebook genre, with focus on the city of Rome; to define the elements, functions and strategies that shape the identities of the author, the traveller and the place, and to discuss the impact of the guidebooks through history on the modern guidebook of today and its role in cultural meetings and exchange in Europe. These objectives will be attained by studying a wide range of material […]

This research project studies 19C century architectural imaginations expressed in texts, documents, drawings and photography alongside buildings. Based on meticulous archival studies, the project investigates architectural historicism as a complex theoretical, historiographical and textual construction. Careful readings of 19C century architectural debates from journals, catalogues, exhibitions and competitions will illuminate the architectural culture of historicism shaped by 19th and 20th century text culture and emerging mass media.

Routes, Roads and Landscapes studies the aestheticization of the modern landscape by looking at routes, roads and railways. The scope of the study is twofold. We investigate ways in which various routes shape modern conceptions of the landscape by framing it as a view, as an aesthetic object or as a place for interaction. Secondly, we inquire into the role of the route itself: as an aesthetic object and as a setting for aesthetic practices.