Ursula Nilgen Hertziana Foundation

Ursula Nilgen (1931–2018) was one of the most important twentieth-century scholars of medieval Roman art, in particular of its political iconography. She was an assistant at the Bibliotheca Hertziana and subsequently became the first woman in Germany to obtain a professorship in art history.

The Foundation was created by Nilgen at the end of 2018 with the aim of promoting research on medieval Italian art (up to about 1250) at the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History. This purpose is fulfilled by supporting excellent young researchers, promoting the preservation and conservation of early medieval Italian art, and organizing conferences and seminars.

Activities promoted

Research Fellowships

Chiara Audizi, M.A. (2023): Clients and Artists: Spaces and Forms of Self-Representation in Medieval Churches of Basilicata (XII–XIII Centuries)
Ruggero Longo, Ph.D. (2019/2020): Mapping Sacred Spaces – The Digital Archive Project. Searching, Collecting, Cataloging, Archiving Medieval Marble Liturgical Furnishings and Decorations

Travel Grants

Lucio Oriani (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II). Project: Codici miniati di ambito aragonese in Siciliy. Travel grant: 17.10.–01.11.2023, for archival work in Sicily
Michela Young (University of Cambridge). Project: The Vallombrosan ‘neighbourhood’ of Florence, networks of artistic patronage, c. 1350-1575. Travel grant: 04.–26.09.2023, for archival work in Florence and Pisa
Alexis Wang (University of Binghamton). Project: The Embedded Object. Travel grant: Autumn 2024, for archival work in Naples, Amalfi, Salerno, Palomonte

Preservation and Conservation of Cultural Heritage

Photographic campaign and diagnostics of medieval mural paintings in the church of Santa Sofia in Benevento, within the project ‘Langobardorum Sapientia. Nuove analisi su Santa Sofia di Benevento’ (Maddalena Vaccaro, Università degli Studi di Salerno; Guglielmo Villa, Sapienza Università di Roma), June 2023

Conferences and Seminars

Workshop: A Day in Honour of Ursula Nilgen – and her Foundation for Italian Medieval Studies at the Bibliotheca Hertziana, 6 November 2023