The Sorbian Institute (; Sorbian: ''Serbski institut'', , ) is a research facility focused on

Sorbian languages The Sorbian languages (, ) are the Upper Sorbian language and Lower Sorbian language, two closely related and partially mutually intelligible languages spoken by the Sorbs, a West Slavs, West Slavic ethno-cultural minority in the Lusatia region ...

, culture and history. It is an extra-university institute collecting and archiving Sorbian texts and cultural artifacts making them available to the public. Originally founded as Institute for Sorbian Ethnology (; ) by Pawoł Nowotny in 1951, it was then integrated into the

German Academy of Sciences at Berlin The German Academy of Sciences at Berlin, , in 1972 renamed the Academy of Sciences of the GDR (''Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR (AdW)''), was the most eminent Research institute, research institution of East Germany (German Democratic Repub ...

in 1952. In 1992, the Sorbian institute was established by a treaty of the two German states

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

and

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

The Institute

The Sorbian Institute's main office is located in Bautzen (Budyšin), with a branch office in Cottbus (Chóśebuz). A new office building to be shared with the Sorbian museum is planned at present in Bautzen. The institute is financially supported by the Foundation for the Sorbian People. The institute edits the academic journal ''Lětopis'' since 1952 and two further book series. The "Schriften des Sorbischen Instituts/Spisy Serbskeho instituta" ('Publications of the Sorbian Institute') are published by Domowina Publishing House. Its staff often take on teaching assignments at universities both in Germany and abroad. The Sorbian Institute works closely together with the Institute for

Sorbian studies Sorbian studies is an academic discipline dealing with Sorbian language and literature. It is a subfield of Slavic studies. Current situation The only institute for Sorbian studies is at Leipzig University (; ). The University of Potsdam publi ...

Leipzig University Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

. It maintains the publicly usable Central Sorbian Library (; ) and the Sorbian Cultural Archives (; ), both accommodated in its Bautzen main office.

Executives

Since its founding, the executives of the Sorbian Institute were: * 1951–1977: Pawoł Nowotny * 1977–1990: Měrćin Kasper (Martin Kasper; vice director: Frank Förster) * 1990–1992: Helmut Faska * 1992–2016: Dietrich Scholze-Šołta * 2016–present: Hauke Bartels

External links

Sorbisches Institut

References

{{Authority control Scientific organisations based in Germany 1992 establishments Organisations based in Brandenburg Sorbian culture