The task of this research center is the recording and annotated edition of Latin and German-language inscriptions in the geographic area of Baden-Württemberg, focusing on the time of the Middel Ages and Early Modern Period up to the year 1650. This endeavour is part of a joint project undertaken by the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Following the project’s establishment in 1935 it was temporarily discontinued during and shortly after the Second World War but was given fresh impetus from the 1960s onwards.
The annotated editions of the inscriptions are published in the book series ‘Die Deutschen Inschriften (DI)’, which currently comprises 114 volumes. Out of these, 20 belong to the Heidelberg series with another three being in preparation. Each volume concerns itself with a specific urban district or county and includes both inscriptions that have survived to this day and can still be observed in their original state as well as those that have merely passed on in later transcriptions.
In view of the threat environmental influences pose to many of the surviving inscriptions their systematic inventory and photographic documentation is of utmost importance. Safeguarding and preserving these cultural assets in this way is crucial even for those regions that are not yet being focused upon publication. Through its work the research center provides basic research for numerous disciplines, including history, philology, art history and ethnology. A particularly noteworthy aspect of this is the palaeographic component of the work since it offers an important contribution to the general history of writing and the written word.