The ZMR

The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (ZMR) was founded at LMU on May 5, 2008 and emerged from a project forum on Medieval and Early Modern History, first established in the year 2000. Nowadays, more than 100 academics based at a total of seven faculties at the LMU are engaged in the study of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

In Munich there are also numerous institutions outside the university that conduct projects in medieval and Renaissance research at the highest level: the Bavarian State Library, the Bavarian Main State Archives, the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and the Monumenta Germaniae Historica are co-operating partners of the ZMR. The concentration and excellence of research and teaching on this era at the LMU and in Munich, in general, are unique in Germany and make the place one of the outstanding locations for Medieval and Renaissance Studies in Germany and beyond. 

The ZMR aims to make this potential of teaching and research in Munich visible, in order to arouse interest in studying the subjects involved and to show transdiciplinary perspectives for high-level research. Starting from the core area of the medieval millennium, the ZMR thus promotes dialogue across traditional subject and period boundaries.

As we intend to bring together research and teaching in our field, we do not only address research experts, but also a broader academic public and students. Therefore, we organize transdisciplinary lecture series and smaller lecture events that bring topics from the Middle Ages and Renaissance closer to a broader public in a generally understandable but scientifically well-grounded form.

At the university, our aim is to create cross-faculty scientific structures that profile and make attractive Medieval and Renaissance Studies in all fields of study through transdisciplinary networking and cooperation, where they are not institutionally secured by their own chairs and institutions.

Further details and information on the ZMR is to be found in the statutes (PDF in German, 17 KB).