19 - 22 June 2024 at the Austrian Academy of Sciences
Postal Savings Bank / Postsparkasse, Georg-Coch-Platz 2 in Vienna

Hardly any other architect had such an impact on the architectural life of the Habsburg Monarchy and its neighbouring countries in the second half of the 19th century as Theophil Hansen (1813–1891) had. Born in Denmark and having spent formative years in Greece, Hansen had a considerable influence on the appearance of Vienna's Ringstrasse with large-scale projects in the style of the “Hellenic Renaissance". He also designed Byzantine and otherwise historically-inspired buildings for the capital of the monarchy, for numerous of its regional centres, but also for many other places across Europe. Above all, however, Hansen was an extremely effective teacher active between 1868 and 1884, whose students at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna took his design ideas to their home regions within the Empire and beyond. Last but not least, Hansen acted as a prolific publicist of his own designs in professional journals and understood how to promote their reception, for example by encouraging the production and distribution of the associated terracotta building ornaments through Viennese brickworks.

The conference aims to shed light on Theophil Hansen´s broader transregional impact and in particular its development in the work of his students, collaborators and adepts. In Hansen's case, the interplay between the active dissemination of architectural concepts and design ideas and their widespread reception, which experienced a renaissance after his death, seems particularly suitable for examining the mechanisms of the dissemination and establishment of historicist architecture. The conference therefore aims to bring together research on Hansen's work and his reception in different regions across Europe – from Norway to Greece and from Ukraine to Switzerland. By doing so, we hope to reveal the existence of transregional communication spheres, that remain out of focus for a nation-state oriented art historiography, and help define their nature and boundaries.

Registration:
https://www.oeaw.ac.at/ihb/aktuelles/anmeldungen-zu-ihb-veranstaltungen/tagung-theophil-hansen-transregional
deadline: Monday, 17 June 2024

Organisers:
Timo Hagen, KHI, University of Bonn
Richard Kurdiovsky, IHB, OeAW Vienna
Gábor György Papp, MI, HUN‐REN, Budapest
Frank Rochow, IBK, BTU Cottbus‐Senftenberg

Contact:
richard.kurdiovsky@oeaw.ac.at