Two ISA projects funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation for the four-year period 25-28

Two projects of the Institute for the History and Theory of Art and Architecture (ISA) at USI, led by Professor Sonja Hildebrand and Professor Daniela Mondini, will receive, between 2025 and 2028, funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) between 2025 and 2028. The first project, "Gottfried Semper: Der Stil. Kritische und kommentierte Ausgabe - Teil 3," involves Full Professor at USI Academy of Architecture and Pro-Rector for Sustainable Transformation and Equal Opportunities Prof. Sonja Hildebrand as co-head. The second project, "Die Kirchen Roms im Mittelalter 1050-1300. Liturgische Ausstattung und Architektur (Corpus Cosmatorum II), Band 7: Kirchen P-Z und Corpus Cosmatorum III." is led by Prof. Daniela Mondini, a Full Professor and Vice-Director for Research at the USI Academy of Architecture.

Professor Sonja Hildebrand's project started in 2017, and it has now reached its third phase. It concerns the text Der Stil in den technischen und tektonischen Künsten, oder Praktische Aesthetik (1860/63) by Gottfried Semper, a key work of 19th century architectural theory. The digital edition makes available all stages of the manuscript, the various printed editions, the unpublished and practically unknown Kunstformenlehre (1856), drafted as a preliminary work of the Stil, as well as material for the planned third volume of the Stil. The potential of digital editing is widely utilised in the production, annotation, and contextualisation of text. The project's third phase will focus on unpublished material related to the third volume, including Semper's lectures at the Eidgenössisches Polytechnikum in Zurich, accessible through his students' notes. The project is conducted in cooperation with Zürich (Professor Philip Ursprung, Head of the project; Professor Maarten Delbeke, Co-head of the project; gta Archiv; gta Digital). Punctual collaborations involve the Swiss National Data and Service Centre for the Humanities (UNIBAS), the Linguistic Research Infrastructure (UZH) and Professor Tobias Hodel (Digital Humanities, UNiBE).

Professor Daniela Mondini's project, initially launched by Prof. Cornelius Claussen and subsequently resumed in 2015, has been supported by the SNSF since 2018 as SNSF Research Infrastructure. The research deals with the architecture and liturgical furnishings of the medieval churches of Rome from the 11th to the end of the 13th century. It envisages the publication of seven volumes (four of which have already been published, the fifth has been completed, and the sixth, dedicated to the churches of San Pietro e San Paolo fuori le mura, is currently being drafted). The seventh volume, which will be dedicated to churches from letter P (excluding the two to which the sixth book is dedicated) to Z, is expected to be written and completed during the phase financed by the SNSF. These include some of the most important and fascinating structures of the city, such as Prassede, SS. Quattro Coronati, S. Saba, S. Sebastiano fuori le mura, S. Stefano rotondo, SS. Vincenzo and Anastasio and, of course, the chapel of the Apostolic palace known as Sancta Sanctorum. The manuscript for the synthesis volume Corpus Cosmatorum III, which represents basic art-historical research in which the focus is primarily on architectural patronage, will also be completed during this funding period. The project "Die Kirchen Roms im Mittelalter 1050-1300. Liturgische Ausstattung und Architektur (Corpus Cosmatorum II), Band 7: Kirchen P-Z und Corpus Cosmatorum III" is conducted in cooperation with UZH and Professor Carola Jäggi (Co-responsible) is also involved.