A big thank you who took part in yesterday's Girls' Day and Boys' Day! It was a joy to welcome so many curious young people to the CSMC and to see them explore manuscripts, our library, research projects, and ancient writing techniques hands-on uhh.de/csmc-gbd-2026

The DiPiKA Project launches a new lecture series with Prof. C. M. Neelakandhan on Kerala’s intellectual traditions. The first talk introduces the endangered Jaiminiya Samaveda tradition, its history, texts, and the need for preservation 24 April, 11:30 am CEST uhh.de/csmc-dipika

World Book Day is tomorrow! Read about a book that you may not be able to read... More than 100 languages are represented in HMML's digitized manuscripts. Curators & catalogers guide us into the stories, starting with specific themes found across the collections: hmml.org/stories/tags/editorials

What can a single library on Rhodes reveal about Ottoman book culture, manuscript transmission, and the intertwined histories of Greeks and Turks? Drawing on codicology, archival work, and cultural history, the two richly researched volumes of 'Conversations in the Library' illuminate this question

According to popular history, when the Crusaders invaded Tripoli in 1109, they burned all the books in the city's famous library. Our Artefact of the Month, a fragile leaf recently discovered in the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum in Istanbul, calls this account into question uhh.de/csmc-aom-36

April 20th 4:15 PM CEST = 10:15 AM EST Olivier Bonnerot on “The @csmc-hamburg.bsky.social Mobile Lab and the non-destructive analysis of written artefacts: insights into inks and pigments on ancient papyri" at Università degli Studi di Napoli L’Orientale and online www.unior.it/en/node/4022

Join us in Daejeon this summer! The mini‑conference “Distant Past(s) – Current Future(s)” explores how digital methods are reshaping ancient and medieval studies and cultural heritage research. CfP open until 1 May.

In a world of mass-produced goods, Nepali lokta paper remains a unique Himalayan heritage. Without support, this craft may disappear. The new film ‘Nepali Paper on the Edge’ by Agnieszka Helman-Ważny offers rare insight into its production. 🎬 Full video: uhh.de/csmc-nepali-...

Join us on Wednesday to hear Dr Márton Vér of @uni-hamburg.de speak on 'The Old Uyghur Documents and a Global Microhistory of the Silk Roads'. This is the next in our 'Rethinking History' series with @utoronto.ca. Register for Zoom: bit.ly/RethinkingHistoryZoom #documents #SilkRoads #OldUyghur

Interest in Ajami in West Africa is growing. During a recent field trip to Senegal, Dmitry Bondarev and his Ajami Lab team initiated new collaborative projects with the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire and Université Cheikh Anta Diop: uhh.de/csmc-ajami-s...

Unser Langzeitforschungsprojekt #Etymologika bietet gemeinsam mit zahlreichen Kooperationspartnerinnen eine Summer School zur antiken griechischen Gelehrsamkeit an: 20. bis 24. Juli 2026 an der @uni-hamburg.de + @csmc-hamburg.bsky.social Bewerben bis 19. April👉 www.awhamburg.de/aktuell/aktu...

📢 Applications are now open for the 2026 round of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships! The CSMC warmly welcomes applications in areas related to written artefacts: www.csmc.uni-hamburg.de/research/mar...

Every year, we present the J.P. Gumbert Dissertation Award for the best doctoral theses dealing with any aspect of manuscript studies. Today, we are delighted to announce the winners for 2025: Jake Benson and Eugene Matanky have received the award for their outstanding work. Congratulations! 🍾🏅

Our colleague Sylvia Melzer, head of our Data Linking Lab, will take up a deputy professorship @uniluebeck.bsky.social next week, where she will hold the Chair of ‘Knowledge-Based Databases’ for one year. Best of luck in your new role, Sylvia!

Computational paleography has become a key meeting ground for the humanities and computer science. We are delighted to offer workshop at this year’s #ICDAR2026 conference to showcase the latest developments in this dynamic field. CfP is open until 22 May!

📢 Vacancy! We're looking for a doctoral researcher to join our ‘Turning Rock into Pixels’ project group and explore the rich cultural heritage of the Jewish cemetery in Hamburg-Altona. More info here:

🤩 Lesenswertes #Portrait unseres Langzeitvorhabens #Etymologika in der Einblicke-Reihe der #Akademienunion. Gleich die Frage am Anfang macht neugierig: Was verraten Worte über das Denken vergangener Jahrhunderte? #Akademienprogramm #EtymologicumGudianum #Langzeitforschung

Under what circumstances were papyri purchased on the Egyptian antiquities market in the early 20c? How was the papyrologist Carl Schmidt involved in the illegal export of papyri? Join us for the Gotha Manuscript Talk by Jakob Wigand (18 March 2026, 6:15 CET) uni-erfurt.webex.com/meet/veranst... 1/2

Can synchrotron X-rays shed light on the material biographies of cuneiform tablets? In a recent study, CSMC and DESY researchers analysed artefacts from @mkghamburg.bsky.social and @stabihh.bsky.social. Their non-destructive method yielded encouraging results. Open access!

Colleagues from our Ajami Lab have continued their work on the Jos Museum manuscript collection at the Kaduna Museum in Nigeria. They established cataloguing and research procedures for identifying Ajami, and reviewed conservation principles relevant to the entire collection uhh.de/csmc-ajami

What impact did empires, both Ottoman and colonial, have on the culture and fate of Maghrebi book collections? Join us for Augustin Jomier's Gotha Manuscript Talk "At the Crossroads of Empires: North African Libraries in the 19th Century", 4 March, 6:15 CET. @csmc-hamburg.bsky.social @inalco.fr 1/2

"Magische Zeichen" und wie man sie entziffert sind das Thema der aktuellen Folge von Terra X. Wie sie die Rätsel lösen, vor die so manches Schriftartefakt die Forschung bisher stellte, erklären darin auch mehrere Wissenschaftler:innen des CSMC! 📺Sonntag um 19:30 im ZDF und in der Mediathek:

📢 Call for applicants! We are delighted to announce the SIMS-CSMC Fellowship, set up with our colleagues @sims-mss.bsky.social. It supports innovative approaches to the study of manuscripts and includes time at SIMS in Philadelphia and at CSMC in Hamburg. Apply by 1 May 2026! More info:

Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Bulletin Vol. 11, Nos. 1-2 (2025) www.aai.uni-hamburg.de/en/comst/pub... @csmc-hamburg.bsky.social #openaccess @petertarras.bsky.social

Our colleague Stephan Seifert has completed his tenure process, congratulations! At our centre, the Chemist has led a project on the ‘Bioinformatic Profiling of Written Artefacts’, and he is a member of the Palm-Leaf Manuscript Profiling Initiative (PLMPI) www.csmc.uni-hamburg.de/news/2026-02...

✍️ Schrift ist eine geniale Erfindung: Durch sie lebt die Vergangenheit fort. Aber was, wenn die Schrift noch in Tonumschlägen steckt, die nicht zerstört werden sollen? Terra X hat dafür bei Forschenden des Exzellenzclusters „Understanding Written Artefacts“ am @csmc-hamburg.bsky.social nachgefragt.

Come and study with us! Our renewed 2‑year MA Manuscript Cultures is now accepting applications until 31 March. The extended programme lets you develop a strong individual research profile while preserving the interdisciplinary approach to global written artefacts that defines our work at the CSMC:

This Wednesday, the DiPiKA Lecture Series on Manuscript Cultures continues with a talk by Yamuna K., who will talk about the 'Kerala School of Sanskrit Grammar and its Manuscript Legacy'. Join us online! The talk starts at 10:30 am CET.

Using our mobile CT scanner ENCI, our researchers have produced a high-resolution 3D reconstruction of the well‑known Georgian manuscript MS 2058/1, the Sinai Lectionary. This and more contributions from CSMC members are available in the latest open-access issue of ‘Digital Kartvelology’:

A worthwhile podcast also addressing the special situation here in Hamburg:

Now online: *Between Hamburg and Jerusalem* A new digital exhibition traces the material remains of German-Jewish history in the early 20th century. It’s based on archives we digitised together with the National Library of Israel and was developed together with @igdjhh.bsky.social

One more week to submit nominations! The J.P. Gumbert Dissertation Award honours the best PhD thesis on any aspect of manuscript studies defended in 2025. The winner receives 5,000 EUR and a fellowship at the CSMC

„Liest sich wie ein Theaterkrimi!“ Das neue Buch unserer Kollegin Laura-Maxine Kalbow erzählt die Geschichte der „Parsifal“-Inszenierung Alexander Zemlinskys am Neuen Deutschen Theater in Prag. Eine begeisterte Besprechung ist in Treffpunkt Klassik im SWR zu hören www.ardaudiothek.de/episode/urn:...

We're looking forward to the first public talk at our centre in 2026! Tomorrow at 6:15 pm CET, LIAO Xiaoying (EPHE, Paris) will be discussing 'The Circulation and Influence of Traditional Law in the Sinographic Cosmopolis' with us. Hybrid event, all welcome! uhh.de/csmc-liao-xi...

Today is Handwriting Day, and we are celebrating it in a truly fitting manner: our new colleagues present their research in a flash talk marathon using 25 written artefacts. This marks the end of two intensive kick-off weeks in our new old cluster of excellence. More info here: uhh.de/csmc-uwa2

Welcome back! Somewhere onboard this ship is our Container Lab, which was stationed in Puducherry, India, for the past 1.5 years to study historical palm-leaf manuscripts. It has now safely returned to Hamburg and is awaiting its next mission

Unfolding the multiple lives of a shipbuilding manuscript: Our first Artefact of the Month in 2026 is known as 'Fragments of Ancient English Shipwrighty' and reveals the interactions between mathematics and practice in the Scientific Revolution: uhh.de/csmc-aom-35

How did the physical properties of materials like wax or clay shape acts of writing, rewriting, and erasure in the ancient Near East? These questions were at the heart of our joint workshop with the TabulaRasa project last year. Read the report here: tabularasa.hypotheses.org/2612

Sources are the raw material of historical analysis, but their evidence is often qualitatively or quantitatively lacking – and sometimes entirely absent. The new volume of SMC explores the vast territory of missing evidence in the study of ancient cultures: uhh.de/csmc-smc-50

Everyday writings, often following no fixed plan, are likely to account for the majority of all handwritten production in human history. The new volume of Studies in Manuscript Cultures explores how the practice of taking notes shapes written artefacts and vice versa. Open access! uhh.de/csmc-notes

In the historiography of the Silk Road, Central Asian peoples such as the Uyghurs have so far played only a minor role. Wrongly so, argues historian Márton Vér. In his @erc.europa.eu project, he turns the history of this complex supra-network on its head. Interview: uhh.de/csmc-silk-road

‘Pearls and corals’: the meaning of ‘Manipravalam’ is as poetic as this language is important to the history of South India. In our interview, Suganya Anandakichenin explains how she will deepen our understanding of it with her @erc.europa.eu Consolidator Grant: uhh.de/csmc-manipra...

We’re celebrating a milestone today: 50 volumes of ‘Studies in Manuscript Cultures’! Join us for a look back at the series’ history and a glimpse into the newest volumes: uhh.de/csmc-smc-jub... Hybrid event, all welcome! Almost all volumes are open access – plenty to read for the holiday season!

Starting tomorrow, we are hosting our last workshop of the year. We are literally ending 2025 with a home game: “Inscribing Domestic Space(s)” sheds light on writing practices within one’s own four walls from a global perspective. Hybrid event, all welcome! uhh.de/csmc-domesti...

Congratulations to Suganya Anandakichenin and Márton Ver! The two CSMC researchers have been awarded @erc.europa.eu Consolidator Grants today. Here’s what they plan to do with it: uhh.de/csmc-erc #ERCCoG

Another update from our Ajami project: On his recent trip, Dmitry Bondarev visited the University of Maiduguri and the Centre for Kanuri Ajami and Qur’anic Studies to plan new initiatives for safeguarding the written heritage of North East Nigeria uhh.de/csmc-unimaid

The new volume in our book series takes you to places of dirt, sweat, and physical labour: archives. Their material features have long been neglected by scholarship. Yet, they are crucial sites of human interaction with written artefacts. Open access! uhh.de/csmc-archives

Das Zuhause war schon immer ein Ort der Schrift: Schutzsprüche an Türen, Einkaufslisten, Namen oder Inschriften in Mosaiken erzählen viel über die Bewohner eines Ortes & ihren Alltag. Internat. Konferenz @csmc-hamburg.bsky.social zur Rolle von Schriftartefakten in Wohnräumen, 11.+12.12. in der Stabi

Małgorzata Grzelec and Laura Gallardo Domínguez have just returned from their journey right into the heart of Mexico’s material writing culture, documenting local papermaking and dye production traditions. In our blog, they report on their trip: uhh.de/csmc-mexico

Update from our Ajami project: Our colleagues Dmitry Bondarev and Maria Luisa Russo recently visited Kaduna, Nigeria, to assess the current condition of the Jos Museum collection and to prepare a new project on the preservation and digitisation of these manuscripts: uhh.de/csmc-kaduna