Data Sources
Via its search interface arthistoricum.net offers random access to publications relevant to research in all forms of media. The search in the full texts of selected text collections is also possible.
arthistoricum.net facilitates search in the special collection catalogues for “European Art History until 1945 and General Fine Arts” (UB Heidelberg) and ”Art after 1945, Photography, Industrial and Graphic Design” (Dresden SLUB). Resources also include books, magazines and articles, images and databases of various provenances.
Integrated Data Sources scroll to top
kubikat
The kubikat is the joint library catalog of the German university-independent art history research institutes Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Max Planck Institute (www.khi.fi.it), Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in München (www.zikg.eu), Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte / Centre allemand d'histoire de l'art in Paris (dfk-paris.org) and the Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max Planck Institute for Art History in Rome (www.biblhertz.it). In addition to monographs, the kubikat also lists articles from specialist journals, congress and exhibition publications, commemorative publications, online journals, etc.
KunstBibliothek Köln
The KunstBibliothek Köln. Central Library for Art and Art History lists the art-literary holdings of the University and City Library of Cologne, the Institute of Art History at the University of Cologne and the Municipal Art and Museum Library. Each library alone has a collection of 250,000 to 750,000 titles, while the combined holdings of the various locations comprise over 600,000 titles. The holdings of the municipal art and museum library and the university's art history institutes are integrated into the arthistoricum.net search.
Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Those collections of the library system of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin’s museums and institutes which are relevant for academic art historical and scientific research have been integrated into the arthistoricum.net search: Alte and Neue Nationalgalerie, Hamburger Bahnhof, Gemäldegalerie, the Sculpture Collection, Kupferstichkabinett, Museum of Decorative Arts, Numismatic Collection, Rathgen Research Laboratory, Institute for Museum Research and the collection of the Lipperheidesche Kostümbibliothek.
Bibliothek der Bundeskunsthalle Bonn
The library of the Bundeskunsthalle is an art research library for the staff of the museum and a research library for public use. Opened in 1992 with a few hundred books, the library now has more than 50,000 media (books, magazines, films).
SLUB Dresden
The catalogue of the special interest collection for ”Art after 1945, Photography, Industrial and Graphic Design” references about 158,000 titles of books, magazines, theses and articles. It also includes new acquisitions of the SLUB Dresden since 1996, and is regularly updated by new and retrospective acquisitions. These resources are supra-regionally available via interlibrary loan and document delivery service.
Hamburger Kunsthalle
The reference library of the Hamburger Kunsthalle comprises more than 200,000 media on art history. The collection focuses on artists' monographs, critical lists of works, exhibition and collection catalogues, about 1,000 20th century artist's books, 2,000 illustrated books of the 15th - 19th centuries, as well as 295 current periodicals. The focus is on the collection areas and research activities of the Hamburger Kunsthalle.
Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
In the catalogue of the special interest collection for “European Art History until 1945 and General Fine Arts” users can research approximately 450,000 volumes, more than 6,300 journals, and approximately 25,000 essays online as well as an extensive range of electronic literature. These resources are supra-regionally available via interlibrary loan and document delivery service.
documenta archiv, Kassel
The extensive specialized collection on contemporary art of the documenta Archiv Kassel’s reference library is searchable via arthistoricum.net.
Library, Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nuremberg
The collection of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum library focuses in particular on art and cultural history, material folklore, prehistory and early history of Central Europe as well as local and regional studies of the German-speaking world. The new acquisitions since 2000 can be searched as well as the old holdings, which are constantly being added to retrospectively. In addition, the OPAC lists dependent literature, above all the essays on art from the entire German-speaking area from 800 to 1900, which were recorded in the course of the bibliography processing “Schrifttum zur deutschen Kunst”.
Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek Köln(USB)
Die Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek Köln (USB) ist die zentrale Universitätsbibliothek der Universität zu Köln mit einem Gesamtbestand von ca. 4,2 Mio. Medien. Im Rahmen einer Kooperation hostet die USB Köln einen digitalen Bestand an historischen fotografischen Handbüchern, die im Rahmen des DFG-Projekts „Fotografie als angewandte Wissenschaft. Über die epistemische Rolle von fotografischen Handbüchern“ (WO 1768/1-1) unter Leitung von Prof. Dr. Herta Wolf, Kunsthistorisches Institut der Universität zu Köln, elektronisch erfasst und digitalisiert wurden. Die über 220 Digitalisate sind seit dem Frühjahr 2026 als Bestandteil der virtuellen Kollektion Fotografie digital im Katalog recherchierbar.
Open Access Repositories scroll to top
Base - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine
Base is one of the world's largest search engines specifically for scientific documents freely accessible on the Internet in the spirit of open access. The search engine BASE is operated by Bielefeld University Library. The subject area of art, photography, and design is integrated into arthistoricum.net. Scientific documents from relevant online publications can be searched and accessed.
Kunstwissenschaftliche Bibliographien scroll to top
In co-operation with academics and research groups, Heidelberg University Library hosts and maintains sustainable, database-supported bibliographies with relevant literature on various art historical topics in the context of arthistoricum.net. Titles on the following topics are currently integrated into the search:
- Hieronymus Bosch
- Camera Work
- Caricature & Comic
- Cranach
- Drawingbooks
- Albrecht Dürer
- Fake (zum Phänomen der Kunstfälschung)
- Glasmalerei
- Johannes Itten
- Kunsthandel im deutschsprachigen Raum bis 1945
- Der Sturm
Databases, E-Journals, Internet resources scroll to top
- ConArt
ConArt - Contemporary Artists is the artist database of the special interest collection for "Art after 1945, Photography, Industrial and Graphic Design" provided by Deutsche Fotothek (German Photographic Collection). As a pivotal information system for all those interested in contemporary art and photography it offers biographical information on more than 160,000 contemporary artists, designers, graphic designers, photographers and architects. While searching arthistoricum.net users can access artist data directly via the ConArt interface
- DBIS - Database Information System
includes freely accessible and licensed scientific databases. The complete list of art databases has been integrated into the search arthistoricum.net. Databases which are publicly available can be opened directly from arthistoricum.net. Users interested in opening a database which requires a license will find a link to more detailed information in DBIS and the possibility, depending on the license areas, to continue the search in the database.
- EZB - Electronic Journals Library
This Electronic Journals Database contains free and licensed scientific full-text journals. It complements the search for full-text articles and is also integrated into the search arthistoricum.net.
- OLC Kunst und Kunstwissenschaft & OLC Architektura
The Online Contents Sections of Arts & Art Sciences and Architecture & Civil Engineering catalogue the tables of contents of journals. They are both subject oriented selections from the Swets-Database Online Contents, which is regularly updated with selected journal titles by the special interest collection libraries SLUB Dresden and UB Heidelberg. Currently, 417 journals are being indexed in the section OLC Arts and Art Sciences - including back issues back to 1993. The daily updated database contains about 708,700 articles and reviews. In the section OLC Architecture and Civil Engineering 490 journals are indexed retrospectively back to the year 1993. Currently this database contains about 1,233,750 essays and reviews pertaining to the subject area architecture.
Digital full-text search scroll to top
Selected full-text collections are integrated into the arthistoricum.net search, which can be searched both in the metadata and in the indexed and OCR-encoded full text. Recently, all full-text collections have also been made available via a specially customised search space for full-text searches. You can find further information on the collection and the independent search space here.