Dr. phil. Frank Rochow

Frank Rochow studied Policial Science and History (B.A.) at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena (Germany) and European Cultural History at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt / Oder (Germany).

In 2016 he worked as a project assistant for European Heritage Volunteers.

In 2017 he coordinated the German-speaking M.A. programme “German and European Studies” at the National University of Kyiv - Mohyla Academy in Kyiv (Ukraine). In the same year, he joined the doctoral programme IMPRS ANARCHIE at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and the Martin Luther University in Halle / Saale (Germany). He defended his thesis on Architektur und Staatsbildung. Festungsbauten als Instrument habsburgischer Herrschaft in Krakau und Lemberg in 2022, and in 2024 was recognized by the Polish Academie of Sciences with a special award.

From 2016 to 2019 he was an associate of the doctoral programme “Habsburg Galicia and Its Multicultural Heritage” in Vienna (Austria).

In 2021 he worked as academic assistant at the Interdisciplinary Centre for the Baltic Sea Region Research (IFZO) at the University of Greifswald (Germany).

Dr. Rochow joined the Chair in Architectural Conservation as Research Associate in January 2023.

Frank Rochow engages as a volunteer with the Service Civil International and European Heritage Volunteers.

Focus Areas

• Architectural History of the 19^th Century
• Architecture and Cultures of Remembrance
• Military architecture
• Construction history
• Central and East Central European history and culture

Monograph

Rochow, Frank. Architektur und Staatsbildung. Festungsbauten als Instrument habsburgischer Herrschaft in Krakau und Lemberg, doctoral dissertation at Martin Luther University in Halle (Saale). Göttingen 2024.

Journal articles / book chapters

Rochow, Frank: The military dimension of modernising the Habsburg Monarchy in the 1850s, in: Hein-Kircher, Heidi/ Sterkenburgh, Frederik Frank (Hrsg.): Modernizing Europe’e Imperial Monarchies. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia in the Nineteenth Century (Palgrave Studies in Modern Monarchy), Cham 2025, pp. 179-203.

Rochow, Frank: Bauwerke als Zeitzeugen? Zum problematischen Verhältnis zwischen Architektur und Geschichte, in: Wolkenkuckucksheim 44/45 (2024/2025), pp. 259–280.

Rochow, Frank: Military engineers as thought collective. Understanding governmental building projects in the Habsburg monarchy around 1850, in: Holzer, Stefan et al. (eds.): Construction Matters. Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on Construction History, Zürich 2024, pp. 963–970.

Rochow, Frank: Habsburgische Militärarchitektur als gesamtgalizisches Erbe, in: Lushaj, Dana/ Rozmus, Joanna/ Remestwenski, Yuriy (eds.): Was bleibt von Galizien? Kontinuitäten – Brüche – Perspektiven, Göttingen 2023, pp. 255–271.

Rochow, Frank: Theophil von Hansen’s House of Invalids in L’viv. The quest for an appropriate style, in: Hartmuth, Maximilian et al. (eds.): The Governance of Style. Public Buildings in Central Europa, ca. 1780-1920, Vienna/Cologne/Weimar 2023, pp. 185–208.

Rochow, Frank. Die räumliche Erscheinungsform des Neoabsolutismus – Militärarchitektur in Lemberg und Wien in den 1850er Jahren, in: Journal of East Central European Studies, 2/2019, pp. 157–188.

and numerous reviews

Conference Papers

„Von Schlössern zu Symbolen der Demokratie. Demokratiegeschichte als Ressource der Stadtraumgestaltung“, conference „Spaces in the history of democracy. A transnational perspective after 1848“, Paris (France), 19.-20.02.2026

zus. mit Victoria Loyall: „Was Ruinen meinen. Zur Bedeutung von Ruinenbildern in der aktuellen Kriegsberichterstattung“, 32nd Conference of the German-Polish Working Group for Art History and Monument Preservation „ The Topicality of Ruins in the Past, Present and Future“, Frankfurt an der Oder / Slubice (Poland), 04.-06.12.2025

„A place for the nation within the empire. The Kosciuszko Mound after the annexation of Cracow 1846“, conference „Who Owns Heritage? Local Communities and the Fight for Historical Monuments in the 19th and 20th Centuries“, Brno (Czech Republic), 06.11.2025

„Die gemeinsamen Wurzeln von Architektur und Denkmalpflege. Theophil Hansen als Architekt, Bauforscher und Denkmalpfleger“, annual conference of the Working Group on Theory and Education in Heritage Conservation, Cottbus, 01.-05.10.2025.

„When empires occupy states. The Habsburg Monarchy’s annexation of Cracow“, Occupation Studies Research Network – Members’ Conference „Themes, Approaches, and Future Possibilities“, London (UK), 10.-11.07.2025.

zus. mit Johanna Blokker: „Transformation in the City – Decay and Demolition as an Experience of Loss“, conference „Urban Loss: Historical and geographical perspectives on experiences and narratives of loss in the transformations of the modern city“, Jena, 20.-21.03.2025.

zus. mit Johanna Blokker: „Transformation in der Stadt – Verfall und Abriss als Erfahrung“, symposium „Räumliche Dimensionen von Transformationsprozessen“, Cottbus, 10.01.2025.

„Wo sich das Militärische vom Zivilen scheidet? Der Befestigungsbaurayon als Grenze und Kontaktzone in Krakau und Lemberg“, Young Researchers Conference of the Society for Urban History and Urbanisation Research, Salzburg (Austria), 15.-16.11.2024.

„Imperiale Architektur dekolonisieren – Bedeutungsebenen kolonialer Bauten“, workshop „Koloniale und neokoloniale Architekturen – Transformationen von Gesellschaften“, Regensburg, 11.-12.09.2024.

„(Not) embracing difficult Habsburg heritage. Fortifications as part of heritage discourses in Cracow and Lviv”, XVI. Conference of European Association of Urban History, Ostrava (Czech Republic), 04.-07.09.2024.

„Ready to fight? Fortifying Galician towns and cities during the Crimean War”, XVI. Conference of European Association of Urban History, Ostrava (Czech Republic), 04.-07.09.2024.

„Military engineers as thought collective - Understanding governmental building projects in the Habsburg monarchy around 1850“, 8th International Congress on Construction History, Zürich (Switzerland), 24.-28.06.2024.

„Habsburgische Militärbauten als Beitrag zur städtischen Modernisierung. Krakau und Lemberg um 1850“, 6th Congress on Polish Studies, Dresden, 14.-17.03.2024.

„The wider context! Habsburg fortifications beyond their local heritage value“, conference der Association of Critical Heritage Studies (ACHS), Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Chapter, „Heritage on the Margins“, Ljubljana (Slovenia), 29.-30.11.2023

„Die Revolution von 1848 überwinden - Instrumente zur Wiederherstellung von Ruhe und Ordnung im habsburgischen Galizien“, 54th German Historikertag, Leipzig, 19.-22.09.2023.

„Vom Ereignis zur Erinnerung. Theoretische Überlegungen zur zeitlichen Sedimentierung von Stadtzerstörungen“, conference „Die zerstörte Stadt zwischen Zäsur und Kontinuität“, Hamburg, 12.-13.05.2023.

“Accommodating the nation within the empire. The negotiations between central state authorities and local stakeholders about the fortification at the Kościuszko Hill in Cracow in the 1850s”, 4^th International Congress on Polish History, Kraków (Poland), 19.-22.10.2022.

„Exercising Habsburg rule in Krakau – The role of the military and fortifications for imperial state building after 1848”, conference „Warring for the Nation. Armed Conflicts, Mass Mobilization and Nation-Building in East-Central Europe between 1789 and 1922”, Budapest (Hungary), 10.-11.10.2022.

 “Militarizing Habsburg Urban Space – The Dynamics of De- and Re-Militarization of Lemberg in the 1840s and 1850s”, XV. Conference of the European Association for Urban History, Antwerp (Belgium), 31.08.-03.09.2022.

“Channeled antagonism or fruitful cooperation? The Military Commission of the German Confederation and the negotiation about the Rastatt fortress in the 1840s”, conference “‘Towards A Brave New World’ Rebuilding Europe after Napoleon, 1815-1853”, online, 08.-09.04.2022.

“Die Erbauung des Forts „Kościuszko“ in Krakau. Staatliche Machtansprüche und gesellschaftliche Aushandlungsprozesse im österreichischen Neoabsolutismus“, colloquium at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (Germany), 30.06.2020.

“Negotiating aesthetics. The House of Invalids in Lemberg between European style and local adaptations”, conference “The Aesthetics of Public Service”, Vienna (Austria), 13.-14.02.2020.

“Architektur und Herrschaft. Gesamtstaatskonzeption und militärische Präsenz in den Grenzprovinzen des Habsburgerreiches, 1849-1859“, 4th International Forum for Doctoral Candidates in East European Art History, Berlin (Germany), 28.04.2017.

“Die räumliche Erscheinungsform des Neoabsolutismus“, 2nd Conference of the Max Weber Foundation, Warszawa (Poland), 28-30.11.2016.