Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC)

Around Luang Prabang is one of the world’s few regions where traditional manuscript culture still thrives. Our new documentary captures the voices of those keeping this legacy alive. 🎞️Watch the full film here: uhh.de/csmc-laos #Laos #CulturalHeritage

We are delighted to have gained the renowned Korean Studies Institute as a partner in researching and preserving the heritage of manuscripts and printing woodblocks. We officially established our collaboration at an international conference in Andong: uhh.de/csmc-ksi

Join us today for a talk by Silvia Orlandi (@SapienzaRoma): In ‘Paper Epigraphy: Handwritten (Re)Sources for the Study of Ancient Inscriptions’, she explores the impact of digitised manuscripts on epigraphic research. 4:15 pm, hybrid event. All welcome! uhh.de/csmc-orlandi

Celebrating manuscript studies on both sides of the Atlantic! We're looking forward to the reception with our colleagues from the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies @IMC_Leeds tonight. Join us if you're there! #IMC2025 imc-leeds.confex.com/imc/2025/meeti…

The MprinT project explores how Islamic religious life on the Swahili coast was transformed by print. Our Data Linking team has just launched a continuously expanding online information system providing access to key sources: uhh.de/csmc-mprint-in…

Integrating archaeometry and philology to gain deeper insights into a deteriorated, multi-layered Qur’anic codex: Four of our colleagues just published this paper in the European Physical Journal Plus: link.springer.com/article/10.114… Open access!

Carian inscriptions display notable diversity, from funerary stelae and graffiti to public and votive texts. Tonight at 6:15 pm, Ignasi-Xavier Adiego Lajara (@UniBarcelona) presents his current research on these enigmatic texts. Hybrid event. All welcome! uhh.de/csmc-lajara

Headaches? Plagued by a Jinn? In love with your neighbour’s wife? In West African manuscript cultures, written artefacts were produced to address all kinds of life problems, as Jannis Kostelnik explains in this essay: uhh.de/csmc-kostelnik Part 2 of our PhD Research Series

What untold stories lie within the very fabric of one of the world’s most famous maps? Researchers from our Mobile Lab visited the Biblioteca Marciana to study the renowned Fra Mauro Map. A captivating short film about this project is out now. Full video: uhh.de/csmc-fra-mauro

The Berlin Traiphum might be the most spectacular surviving manuscript of its kind. Measuring 33m in length, it opens up a unique panorama of Buddhist cosmology. Our alumnus Peera Panarut explores it together with his colleagues at the Museum of Asian Art: uhh.de/csmc-traiphum

Colonial encounters were transformative events in the life cycle of manuscripts in Muslim societies. From 19–21 June, our workshop explores the complex legacy of these encounters, revealing both loss and new intellectual horizons Hybrid event, all welcome! uhh.de/csmc-colonial-…

He studied falling objects before Galileo, discovered Snell’s law before Snell, pioneered interpolation before Newton, invented binary before Leibniz – yet remains barely known. The 1st part of our PhD Research Series deals with Thomas Harriot's notebooks: uhh.de/csmc-harriot

Much of what we know about everyday reading practices in #Arabic writing cultures comes from audition certificates. We make these valuable #manuscripts accessible to research on an online platform. A new version now offers #OpenAccess to over 5000 sources: uhh.de/csmc-acp

Join our team in 2026! We're seeking multiple doctoral candidates and postdocs to advance research on manuscripts and other written artefacts at our cluster. Apply now — just over one week left! uhh.de/csmc-jobs

Over the next two days, we will explore a cultural technique that lies at the heart of producing and disseminating written artefacts. Join us online for our two-day workshop on ‘Learning to Write’: uhh.de/csmc-learning-…

Introducing TAMAR: our new open-access web tool lets you display digitised manuscripts side-by-side with transcriptions or additional info. Developed in a project on Biblia pauperum manuscripts, TAMAR is adaptable for a wide range of research purposes: uhh.de/csmc-tamar

Today, we look into the relationship between handwriting and the history of philosophy again: In the ‘Philosophy by Hand’ series, Margherita Mantovani and Yoav Meyrav will discuss ‘The Image of Death and the Misplaced Quire: A Tale of Two Codices’: uhh.de/csmc-hepmasite

We had the pleasure of hosting a meeting of the Hanseatic University Alliance last night. Among other things, our brilliant PhD students Stefano Farinella and Malgorzata Grzelec presented their work in historical epistemology and archaeometry, respectively uhh.de/csmc-hau