Department History

The Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Vienna is the only university department in Austria that covers the history, literature, language, art, and culture of the Byzantine Empire since late antiquity as well as Modern Greek since the early modern period and the Greek state since its founding in 1830, both in research and teaching. It was founded in 1962, initially only as an Department of Byzantine Studies. The chair for the newly established professorship was awarded to Herbert Hunger (1914-2000), who had previously worked at the Austrian National Library. Polychronis Enepekides (1917-2014, retired since 1982 ) held courses on Modern Greek language, culture, and history. Until 1975, the department was located at Hanuschgasse 3. Since then it has been located at the Old University site (Postgasse 7). Due to a general renovation, the department and the departmental library for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies moved from March 2020 to summer 2022 to the University Center UZA1, Augasse 2-6, 1090 Vienna. After being renamed the 'Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies' in 1980, the chair for Modern Greek Studies was established in 1982 and the position was filled by Gunnar Hering (1934-1994), who had previously taught at the University of Göttingen with a focus on Eastern and Southeastern European history and particularly on Greek history. . Herbert Hunger was succeeded as professor of Byzantine Studies by Johannes Koder in 1985 until 2010. Otto Kresten was appointed associate professor in 1981, then university professor for Byzantine Studies with a focus on auxiliary sciences until 2008; From 1982 to 1998, he headed the Historical Institute at the Austrian Cultural Institute in Rome. Other positions were filled by Wolfram Hörandner and Werner Seibt (both until 2007). In 1976, Helmut Buschhausen was appointed to the new professorship in Byzantine Art History, which the institute shares with the Institute of Art History (until 2002).

Both Byzantine Studies and Modern Greek Studies were conceived at the University of Vienna as interdisciplinary subjects. Teaching and research deal with topics ranging from linguistics and language training and philology to literary studies, art, as well as history throughout the chronological extent of both subjects. Long-term projects established at the University of Vienna (often in cooperation with the Austrian Academy of Sciences) include, among others, Historical Geography, Lexicography, Sigillography, Prosopography, material culture, research on medieval and early modern travel literature, the history of concepts, and media and cultural history of the modern period.

The department is characterised today by internationally renowned scientific staff who are active in many areas of both Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies and aim to maintain and strengthen their leading position in research and teaching. As university professors, A.E. Müller (Byzantine Studies - auxiliary sciences for the fields of Byzantine Studies and Modern Greek Studies since 2009), Claudia Rapp (Byzantine Studies since 2010), Maria A. Stassinopoulou (Modern Greek Studies since 2002), and Lioba Theis (Byzantine Art History since 2005) as well as Christophe Erismann (Assoc. Prof. Byzantine Intellectual History since 2019) are active.

The department has one of the world's largest specialised libraries (directors of the departmental library: Prof. Dr. Ernst Gamillscheg until 1992, Prof. Dr. Michael Grünbart until 2008, since then Dr. Anna Ransmayr) with around 150 ongoing periodicals and 43,000 volumes. Together with the Department of Byzantine Research at the Institute for Medieval Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the institute supervises the Journal  of Austrian Byzantine Studies (JÖB) as well as the series Byzantina et Neograeca Vindobonensia (co-editor Maria A. Stassinopoulou), and the series Studies in the History of Southeastern Europe (co-editor Maria A. Stassinopoulou). The Austrian Byzantine Society (ÖBG, founded in 1946) and the Austrian Society for Modern Greek Studies (ÖGNS, founded in 1988), both of which organise lectures, exhibitions, and conferences, operate in close cooperation with the institute.

Since its foundation, the department has invested heavily in networking with other disciplines within the University of Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Sciences as well as in international cooperation. During the Cold War, it served as a bridge between East and West in Byzantine research, a tradition of contacts that continues today within the framework of Vienna Dialogues-Conversation and cooperation. As one of the first departments at the University of Vienna, it has been participating in the Erasmus exchange of students, young researchers (Erasmus placements), and teachers since 1992. 

In addition to its own doctoral students and post-docs, established colleagues and young researchers visit the department annually, use the library holdings, and exchange ideas with those teaching here.