We look back

Academic research in the disciplines of Romance studies has been carried out at the University of Graz since 1854. The associate professorship for Italian Language and Literature created at that time was elevated to a full professorship in 1860 and converted into a chair for Romance philology in 1875, to which Hugo Schuchardt was appointed in 1876. In the appointment proposal of the commission at the time, he was already regarded as "the most brilliant, versatile and productive of the younger representatives of Romance philology". Schuchardt's work in Graz (as a full professor until 1900; then continuing to research intensively until his death in 1927) confirmed this in every respect and helped him and Romance studies in Graz to achieve a high reputation. In addition to Schuchardt, the internationally recognized scholars Adolf Zauner (who worked at the Department of Romance Studies in Graz between 1911-1939) and Julius Cornu (1901-1911) should also be mentioned. In the more recent past, professors such as Rudolf Lind (1975-1985), Dieter Kremers (1970-1991), Klaus Lichem (1960-2001), Hans-Joachim Simon (1968-1999), Ulrich Schulz-Buschhaus (1989-2000), Werner Helmich (1992-2009) and Klaus-Dieter Ertler (2004-2020) have shaped the Department of Romance Studies with their academic work.

The predecessor of the current department, the Seminar for Romance Philology, was established in 1901; the Seminar for Italian Language and Literature was founded in 1909. Departments of the same name then emerged from the two Seminars, but from 1922 under a single director and with only one full professorship. The university reform (UOG 1975) merged them into the Department of Romance Studies. A second Chair of Romance Studies (Linguistics) was established in 1968, a third (Literary Studies) and an associate professorship (Linguistics) in 1975. There are now two professorships each for Linguistics and Literary Studies as well as a professorship for Didactics at the Department of Romance Studies.