More than 6,000 historical hand drawings and prints made available online by TIB

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Historical treasures from the Albrecht Haupt Collection offer insights into the history of architecture and art: More than 6,000 digitised works from the Albrecht Haupt Collection, encompassing, for instance, pen and ink drawings and copperplate engravings from countries such as Italy, Germany and France, can now be accessed online: https://sah.tib.eu/

Valuable 16th to 19th century graphic art

The Albrecht Haupt Collection of TIB – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology comprises around 6,200 individual graphics on paper, most of which date from the 16th to 19th centuries. The works on a wide range of themes including architecture, horticulture and handicrafts were collected over many years by architect, building historian and university lecturer Albrecht Haupt (1852-1932).

Copperplate engraving of St. Peter’s, Rome
St. Peter’s, Rome (unrealised design by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger), ed. Antonio Salamanca, 1548, copperplate engraving. Graphic: Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB), Coll. Haupt, Inv. no. m I GR A 4: 1

This special collection has been in the holdings of TIB since 1901. In 2019, as part of the GESAH project, work began on digitising the 6,000 or more graphics, including drawings by Albrecht Dürer, Gianlorenzo Bernini and Friedrich Weinbrenner.

Designs for jewellery byAlbrecht Dürer
Designs for jewellery, Albrecht Dürer, around 1516, pen and ink drawing. Graphic: Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB), Coll. Haupt, Inv. no. kl D Z 61: 2a, b, c)

The project, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation, DFG), involved TIB staff and researchers from the Chair of History of Architecture and Urban Development at Leibniz Universität Hannover (LUH) working together for three years in an elaborate process to make the extensive collection accessible. This led to the “unearthing”, i.e. identification and attribution, of a few previously undiscovered treasures, notably among the hand drawings.

Freely accessible and available for reuse

The outcome of this work can now be viewed online: 15,000 high-resolution digital reproductions, including more than 1,000 unique hand drawings, are now freely accessible online for the first time to researchers and other interested users from all over the world. Since the now digitised graphics and drawings are in the public domain, i.e. they are not subject to any known copyright or intellectual property rights, TIB is making them openly accessible. This means that they can be freely used, distributed and processed, including for commercial purposes.

15,000 digitised high resolution items from the Haupt Collection are now freely accessible online for the first time to researchers and interested parties from all over the world. Screenshot: TIB

A gain for research into the history of architecture and art

The works in the Albrecht Haupt Collection are of great value for research in the history of architecture and art. “Previously, people could only view these materials by making an advance appointment and going to TIB in person. Now that the works have been digitised and made available, they can be used digitally by researchers of architectural and art history from all over the world,” enthused Dr Irina Sens, Deputy Director of TIB. After all, this was what Haupt had intended when he bequeathed his extensive collection to TIB during his lifetime: the collection was to be preserved in its entirety and made available for use by students and scholars.

The works in the Albrecht Haupt Collection are of great value for research in the history of architecture and art. Screenshot: TIB

Digitisation of the collection continues: approval of subsequent project GESAH +

The 6,000 or more digitised graphics and drawings that are now online are only part of the Haupt Collection. There is still a lot to be done: In the “GESAH +” project, which has received DFG funding for another three years, TIB and LUH intend to index the bound albums of graphics (around 3,000 prints) and some 6,000 travel sketches drawn by Albrecht Haupt. To enhance the searchability of the digitised graphics and drawings, the presentation environment will be further developed, facilitating links to general portals.

If you have any questions or require further information on the Albrecht Haupt Collection, feel free to email the TIB team at sammlung.haupt@tib.eu.

Click here to access the digital Albrecht Haupt Collection. Have fun browsing the works!

The GESAH project at TIB

The Albrecht Haupt Collection of TIB offers great potential to international researchers of construction and fine arts, particularly the Individual Graphic Sheets, which cover a broad contextual and technical spectrum. This unique collection was compiled by Albrecht Haupt (1852-1932), who spent much of his life in Hannover as an architect and lecturer in architectural history at what was then TH Hannover (Hannover University of Technology). The collection includes Haupt’s library, the travel sketches he drew, and numerous individual graphics. These 6,200 or so prints and drawings on a wide variety of subjects date from the 15th to the 19th century.

The digitisation of the works is part of the GESAH project, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation, DFG). In this project, TIB intends to index and publish the collection in collaboration with Professor Markus Jager, Professor of the History of Architecture and Urban Development at the Institute for History and Theory of Architecture (IGT) of Leibniz Universität Hannover.