Mission Statement

Deutsches Dokumentationszentrum für Kunstgeschichte - Bildarchiv Foto Marburg is a national and international research and service institute, supported by the Philipps University in Marburg.

Its mission is to collect, index and make available photographs related to European art and architecture, as well as to conduct research on the history, practice and theory of how visual cultural assets are passed on, especially the accompanying transformation process as it relates to the media, the conditions of storing knowledge in visual form, and the significance to society of remembering visual culture.

With its roughly 1.7 million photographs,Foto Marburg is one of the largest image archives on European art and architecture.

Through the cooperative structures it has established, Foto Marburg supports the documentary work being done at museums, offices for the protection of historic monuments, libraries and research institutes.

The Deutsches Dokumentationszentrum serves publishing houses, editorial offices, scholars and all other interested parties by publishing the pictorial material and the indexing data of its more than 80 partner institutes.