Illuminated Manuscripts from the High Middle Ages: Completion of the Art Historical Cataloguing of the Special Collection in Graz University Library

funded by the FWF: P32550
1. 3. 2020 - 28. 2. 2026

Project management: O. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Michael Viktor Schwarz

Project team: Dr. Veronika Decker (until 2024), Dr. Michaela Schuller-Juckes

The FWF-funded research project is dedicated to the exploration of the illuminated manuscripts of the High Middle Ages in Graz University Library which mostly originate from the former holdings of the Augustinian monastery of Seckau and the Benedictine abbey St. Lambrecht as well as from other monastic libraries in Styria, Carinithia and Slovenia. The book culture of the time reflects the spiritual renewal and was mainly promoted by those monasteries which were florishing after the reforms and spreading, through the foundation of filial monasteries, not only Christian belief, but also their intellectural culture. The books required for this were not only produced in monastic scriptoria, but in some instances already in professional workshops, for which the illuminations provide vital evidence.

The aim of the project is the art historical catalogisation of the manuscripts and to bring forth new information on the general understanding, the historical and geographic localisation of the individual manuscripts as well as the production of book illumination in the 12th century. The results will be published in a richly illustrated art historical catalogue as part the series "Die illuminierten Handschriften und Inkunabeln außerhalb der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek" edited by Michael Viktor Schwarz, and thereby complete the catalogisation of the illuminated manuscripts held by Graz University library.