Union Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts (KOHD)

The Project

A page from the collection of poems of the famous Arabic poet al-Mutanabbi (d. 965 CE). Written 1516 CE, probably in Egypt. Bavarian State Library Munich, Cod. arab. 512, fol. 126v.

The Union Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts in Germany (Katalogisierung der Orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland, KOHD) was a research project of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony, financed by both the German federal government and the German states in the framework of a commission supporting education and research (Akademienprogramm der Gemeinsamen Wissenschaftskonferenz von Bund und Ländern). The creation of the KOHD was suggested in 1957 by German orientalists; it was founded by Wolfgang Voigt, then director of the Oriental Department at the Westdeutsche Bibliothek at Marburg, under the auspices of the German Orientalist Society (Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft) and financed until 1989 by the German Research Foundation (DFG). In 1990 it became a research project of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities and was completed in 2022.


The project's aim was to register manuscripts in Oriental scripts and languages which had not yet been catalogued, and to make them accessible in printed volumes. Since 2016, most manuscripts were catalogued in databases.

Catalogues as well as studies dealing with specific manuscripts were published in the publication series Verzeichnis der Orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland (VOHD) by the Franz-Steiner-Verlag, edited by the project's director on behalf of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony. Annual project reports were published in the Jahrbuch der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen.

 

Publications

Union Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts in Germany

In the project's publication series Union Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts in Germany (Verzeichnis der Orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland), published by Franz-Steiner-Verlag, 176 catalogue volumes and 52 supplementary volumes have been published. Most of the published volumes are still in print and can be ordered through booksellers or directly from the publisher. Some volumes have already been digitised and can be found at res doctae, the Academy's document server.


Databases

Since 2016, manuscripts have mostly no longer been catalogued in printed volumes, but in the KOHD Digital database. This applies to descriptions in Sanskrit, Old Turkic, Tamil, Khmer, Thai-Khmer, Tibetan, Persian and Arabic. In the fall of 2024, all metadata was migrated from KOHD Digital to Qalamos, the central portal for oriental manuscripts in Germany. Coptic manuscripts previously catalogued via KOHD Coptica can now be searched in the Papyrus Portal. 

 

People

Steering Committee (until 2023):
Prof Dr Tilman Seidensticker (Chair, University of Jena) | Prof Dr Heike Behlmer (University of Göttingen) | Prof Dr Jens-Uwe Hartmann (LMU Munich) | Prof Dr Jens Peter Laut (University of Göttingen) | Prof Dr Ulrike Niklas (University of Cologne) | Christoph Rauch, M.A. (Head of the Oriental Department, Berlin State Library, Prussian Cultural Heritage) | Prof Dr Peter Schwieger (University of Bonn) | Prof Dr Christoph U. Werner (University of Bamberg)

Working Units (until 2022):

Project Coordination and Editorial Responsibility for the VOHD:
Prof Dr Tilman Seidensticker (University of Jena)

Coptic Manuscripts:
Head: Prof Dr Heike Behlmer (University of Göttingen)
Research: Dr Andrea Hasznos (Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, State Museums in Berlin)

Sanskrit Manuscripts:
Head: Prof Dr Jens-Uwe Hartmann (LMU Munich)
Research: Dr Jin-Il Chung (Academy of Sciences in Göttingen)

Old Turkic Manuscripts:
Head: Prof Dr Jens Peter Laut (University of Göttingen)
Research: Dr Simone-Christiane Raschmann | Dr Orçun Ünal (Berlin)

Tamil, Khmer, and Thai-Khmer Manuscripts:
Head: Prof Dr Ulrike Niklas (University of Cologne)
Research Tamil: Dr Claudia Weber (University of Cologne)
Research Khmer and Thai-Khmer: Hélène Suppya Nut (University of Cologne)

Tibetan Manuscripts and Block Prints:
Head: Prof Dr Peter Schwieger (University of Bonn)
Research: Saadet Arslan, M.A. (University of Bonn) | Kalsang Norbu Gurung, Ph.D., (University of Hamburg) | Dr. Olaf Czaja (Berlin State Library, Prussian Cultural Heritage)

Persian Manuscripts:
Head: Prof Dr Christoph U. Werner (University of Bamberg)
Research: Dr Christiane Reck | Arham Moradi, M.A. (Goethe University Frankfurt)

Arabic Manuscripts:
Head: Prof Dr Tilman Seidensticker (University of Jena)
Research: PD Dr Florian Sobieroj (University of Jena) | Dr Ute Pietruschka | Beate Wiesmüller, M.A. (University of Hamburg)

Sanskrit Manuscripts from the Turfan Finds, Burmese Manuscripts:
Head: Prof Dr Jens-Uwe Hartmann (LMU Munich)
Research Sanskrit: Dr Klaus Wille-Peters
Research Burmese: Dipl-Soz Anne Peter