About : CSMC : University of Hamburg

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The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) and its Cluster of Excellence ‘Understanding Written Artefacts’ (UWA) investigate handwriting as a key cultural technique from a global perspective. Our mission is to explore the remarkable diversity of manuscript cultures, transcending traditional boundaries of academic discipline, historical periods, and geography. Using a holistic approach, we study all objects bearing handwriting, considering their physical features, history, and use, from the origins of writing to today’s digital age.

About us

Content

Overview

Founded in 2012 at the University of Hamburg, the CSMC brings together more than 150 researchers from all career stages and houses an international Graduate School, a unique laboratory system, a specialised research library, and more. Alongside the UWA Cluster of Excellence, numerous other third-party-funded research projects are affiliated with the CSMC.

Research

Our research community unites experts from more than 40 academic disciplines across the humanities, natural sciences, and computer science. Together, they realise a wealth of different research projects on various aspects of written artefacts.

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Graduate School

Our Graduate School offers attractive study programmes for early career researchers, including the two-year international MA programme ‘Manuscript Cultures’, a structured three-year Doctoral Programme, and Summer and Winter Schools.

Photo: BLUENIKA I Veronika Krebs

Laboratories

The material analysis of written artefacts and developing new methods for analysing and representing the data are at the heart of our research. We implement this in a unique laboratory system consisting of three Artefact Labs and three Computer Science Labs.

Photo: Esfandiari/UHH

Cultural Heritage

When doing research in the field of manuscript studies, scholars are not just handling precious and at times unique artefacts, but parts of the cultural heritage of people. At CSMC, preserving written heritage and studying manuscript cultures go hand in hand.

Photo: Nicolas Réméné

Publications

Our extensive portfolio of publications includes traditional academic formats like journals and a book series, as well as practical resources like the Artefact Profiling Guide and software tools. The vast majority of our publications is available open access.

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Videos

What is CSMC?

What does it mean to do research on written artefacts? Employing concrete examples, this film illustrates how researchers from disciplines such as Musicology, Computer Science, Ancient History, and X-Ray Physics work together at our centre to gain new insights into the history of writing. A long version is available as well.

Long version

Charting History: The Mobile Lab Explores the Fra Mauro Map

What untold stories lie within the very fabric of one of the world’s most famous maps? In early 2025, researchers from the CSMC Mobile Lab travelled to the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice to study the Fra Mauro Map up close. A captivating documentary captures both the scientific and logistical challenges of this journey.

Our Container Lab. Mission 1: Palm Leaf Profilers

This film takes a look behind the scenes of a multi-layered scientific endeavour: ‘Our Container Lab. Mission 1: Palm Leaf Profilers’ follows the laboratory containers and researchers of the CSMC on their journey to India, where they want to figure out the provenance of the historical palm-leaf manuscripts of Tamil Nadu.

International Network

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Cooperations Worldwide

We understand research as a collaborative endeavour, not just within our own centre, but also with external partners around the world. These partners, including both individuals and institutions, work in a variety of settings and contribute very different kinds of expertise to our mission to holistically study written artefacts.

Interactive Map

More

Responsible Research

Blogs

In our Artefact of the Month series and blogs, we introduce the faces behind the research at our centre, present the stories of particularly intriguing objects, and share the latest news from ongoing research projects.

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Contact

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University of Hamburg

Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures

Warburgstraße 26

20354 Hamburg, Germany

Phone: +49 40 42838 7127

Mail: manuscript-cultures@uni-hamburg.de