Bauhaus Universität Weimar

Chair for Heritage Conservation and Architectural History

The focus of the interests of the Chair for Heritage Conservation and Architectural History is on the significance and function of historic buildings and of architectural history in present-day society.

Both teaching fields are concerned with architecture from past epochs, but each has its own goals and research interests: architectural history endeavors to understand the buildings and building processes of the past and to consider the historicity of architecture, whereas heritage conservation is concerned with understanding how remembrance is connected with architecture and why and how a society wants to and can preserve buildings, cities and cultural landscapes. On the basis of socially justified criteria a selection is made from the stock of our architectural legacy from the past, and strategies for preserving these monuments and conveying their meaning have to be devised.

In addition to building research involving specific objects, architectural history interests focus on the handling of architectural remnants and the history of alterations and reuse. Heritage conservation places emphasis on urban and cultural landscape issues, the study of the iconicity of architecture and monuments, and the buildings of the Modern Movement and their monument value, which is often difficult to convey. As a history-oriented university chair we are moreover concerned with the history and theory of our own discipline.

(Text adoped from: https://www.uni-weimar.de/en/architecture-and-urbanism/chairs/denkmalpflege-und-baugeschichte/prof/english/)