The Department of Architectural History and Preservation provides an overview of the history, theory, and historiography of architecture from the medieval period to the present day. As a branch of art history, the history of architecture encompasses the visual culture of buildings and cities, from drawings to postage stamps. At the same time, architectural history involves the study of the three-dimensional building, both as an artistic object and as material evidence that provides information about historical building practices and sociocultural uses. Therefore, site visits and field trips are important components of the course offerings.
Teaching and research focus on the built environment and its global entanglements in the context of migration, exile, colonization, and globalization, especially across Europe and the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa). This educational focus is strengthened by and reflected in the Department’s hosting of Manazir – the Platform for the Study of Visual Arts, Architecture and Heritage in the MENA Region – and the peer-reviewed Open Access Manazir Journal. In the critical reflection of disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches (Gender Studies, Environmental Humanities, Architectural Sociology), new perspectives are developed for the inclusive and sustainable treatment of historical building culture in the twenty-first century.
A logical continuation of architectural history is the field of heritage preservation. The Master’s Program in Art History with special qualification in Monument Preservation and Monument Management is a unique part of the course offerings in Bern. The program combines a major in art history (with optional focus on architectural history) with a minor in monument preservation and monument management. In close cooperation with experts and institutions in Switzerland and abroad, students are taught the history, theory, and ethics of monument preservation, as well as the practice of historic preservation and its social and ecological responsibility. The goal is to enable students to analyze conservation methods and preservation strategies, and to understand buildings in a complex interdisciplinary and historical perspective, in order to critically shape the built environment in the future.
Together with the Chair of Construction Heritage and Preservation at the ETH Zurich and in cooperation with ICOMOS Suisse, Konferenz der Schweizer Denkmalpfleger:innen, Arbeitskreis Denkmalpflege and Gesellschaft für Ingenieurbaukunst, the Department organizes the Freitagsforum Denkmalpflege (Friday’s Forum on Heritage Preservation). The lecture series fosters exchange between researchers and practitioners of architectural history, building research, monument preservation and restoration in Switzerland and abroad.