About

The history of Byzantine studies in Vienna dates back to the 16th century. Driven by a profound interest in Greek culture and political confrontation with the Ottoman Empire, which expanded from Constantinople into the Balkans, subjects of the Habsburg Empire engaged with Byzantium and its cultural heritage. A key figure in this regard was Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq (1522–1592), who served as an envoy of the Emperor to the ‘Sublime Porte’, spending seven years in Constantinople and travelling to other places that had been under Byzantine influence. Beyond his political duties, Busbecq studied ancient and medieval Greek objects and brought 272 medieval manuscripts to Vienna. These were incorporated into the Imperial Library and form the foundation of the Greek manuscript collection at the Austrian National Library, which today comprises over 1,000 codices. In the 18th century, a significant number of Greek merchants also settled in Vienna. This combination of Byzantine artifacts, the ongoing political confrontation with the Ottoman Empire, and the presence of a prominent Greek Orthodox community in Vienna created a cultural climate that gave the Byzantine Empire a significant place in scholarly and cultural discourse.

The foundations for the academic infrastructure of Byzantine studies in Vienna were laid in the late 19th century. Initially, art historians such as Alois Riegl (1856–1902), Josef Strzygowski (1862–1941), Wladimir Sas-Zaloziecky (1896–1959), and Otto Demus (1902–1990) played a central role in establishing Byzantine culture as a distinct research focus. On March 20, 1946, the Austrian Association for Byzantine Studies was founded, providing Austrian Byzantine studies with official representation. In 1948, the Austrian Academy of Sciences established the “Byzantine Commission,” which aimed to advance the field, particularly through the study of manuscripts housed in the National Library. In 1951, the internationally renowned academic journal Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinischen Gesellschaft was founded, later renamed Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik and now published as the Journal of Byzantine Studies (JOeB)/Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik. Finally, in 1961, Herbert Hunger (1914–2000) was appointed to the first chair of Byzantine studies at the University of Vienna. In 1962, the university’s Institute for Byzantine Studies was established (renamed in 1982 as the Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies). Through his research, the education of younger scholars, and his academic leadership—including serving as president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (1973–1982) and the Association Internationale des Études Byzantines (AIEB) (1976–1986)—Hunger brought Byzantine studies in Vienna to scholarly prominence and significantly expanded its institutional foundations. Endre von Ivánka (1902–1974), appointed in 1961 as professor of Byzantine studies at the University of Graz, also contributed to the development of Byzantine studies in Austria. Today, the centers of Byzantine studies in Vienna are the Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Vienna, with its specialized library of approximately 55,000 volumes, and the Department of Byzantine Research at the Institute for Medieval Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Moreover, the Central European University has quickly developed into an important research hub with its own study program through its Department of Late Antique, Byzantine, and Eastern Christianity Studies since the university relocated to Vienna in 2019. Byzantine scholars can also be found at the theological faculties, and the departments of history, archaeology, and art history at the University of Vienna, as well as other academic institutions. With around fifty full-time Byzantine scholars, Vienna is rightfully considered one of the world’s leading centers for Byzantine studies.

The topics currently explored in Vienna span all disciplines relevant to Byzantine studies—history, philology, archaeology, art history, digital humanities, and more. Similarly diverse are the research themes, which include historical geography, literary history, social history, art history, sigillography, palaeography, epigraphy, environmental history, and the Byzantine Empire’s connections with neighboring cultures in the East and West. These diverse research projects are united by an interest in understanding the present within the past, fostering interdisciplinary exchange, and connecting individual insights, which come together like puzzle pieces to form an ever-evolving picture of Byzantium.