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History
The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities was founded in 1759 by Elector Maximilian III Joseph. From the very beginning of the 18th century learned men in Bavaria, both clerics and laity, had sought contact with the European Academic movement. In 1702 a learned society was established in Munich with the Baroque name of Nutz- und Lusterweckende Gesellschaft der vertrauten Nachbarn am Isarstrom (Society of friendly neighbours on the stream of the Isar for the creation of utility and pleasure). This society devoted itself to the study of Bavarian history. In 1720 it was followed by the short-lived Academia Carolo Albertina. The periodical Parnassus boicus oder neueröffneter Musenberg (Bavarian Parnassus, or the newly opened mountain of the Muses) was established in 1722, but continued only until 1740, by which time five issues had appeared. The foundation charter of the Academy in 1759 makes special mention of Parnassus boicus.
That the Academy was founded at all was due to the untiring efforts of Johann Georg Lori (1723-87), Privy Counsellor at the Münz- und Bergwerkskollegium (College of Coinage and Mining) in Munich. Lori, son of an innkeeper in south-eastern Bavaria, had studied law at Würzburg and Ingolstadt. He was in contact with many of the leading scholars of his time, in particular the influential philosopher Christian Wolff. In Munich on 12th October 1758 Lori founded the Bayerische Gelehrte Gesellschaft (Learned Society of Bavaria). From the outset it was his intention to raise this society to the status of a Royal Academy devoted to the pursuit of scholarly research and the advancement of knowledge. As many as 88 members joined within six months. The first President was the chairman of the Münz- und Bergwerkskollegium, Count Sigmund von und zu Haimhausen, who was able to open doors to the royal court and to the Elector himself. There were considerable difficulties in connection with the ensorship; but these were overcome, and on 25th June 1759 the Elector signed the Statutes, which placed the Academy directly under his control.
Dedication of volume I of the Proceedings (1763). On the left a portrait of Elector Maximilian III Joseph; on the right, Pallas Athene holding the 'heart-shield' (inescutcheon) with the motto 'Tendit ad aequum' granted to the Academy by the Elector, and, below, the date of foundation, 28th March 1759.
From the very beginning the Academy chose its Fellows without regard to religion or nationality. Of the 88 Fellows in 1759, 19 were Protestants – this at a time when no Protestant could obtain civic rights in Munich. Fellows were divided into two classes, the historical and the philosophical; in this context 'philosophy' had the old sense of general scholarship and included mathematics and physics.
At first the Academy had rooms in the Toll House; from 1783 it was accommodated in the Wilhelminum in Neuhauser Strasse, the former collegiate building of the dissolved Jesuit Order. It was supported financially by the proceeds of the annual calendar tax. The task of the Academy was 'to take as the objects of its research in two departments, historical and philosophical, all matters, with the exception of matters of belief and political controversies, which have a lasting political and natural connection with the country.'
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Count Sigmund von und zu Haimhausen, first president of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities from 1759 to 1761. |
Johann Georg von Lori (1723-1787), electoral numismatic and mining councillor, whose initiative was largely responsible for the foundation of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 1759 |
