The Mission of the Office for Academic Heritage, Scientific and Art Collections

Founded in 1979, the Office for Academic Heritage, Scientific and Art Collections is one of the oldest such bodies in Germany. In the context of its central overarching status, it performs a supervisory role with regard to the cultural monuments of the University, assembled in collections from science and technology, as well as art.  The objects collected within various research and teaching contexts serve not only as material witnesses to TU Dresden's university history. Above all, they constitute a valuable resource for research, teaching, and academic communication related to the collections. To promote this potential, the Office for Academic Heritage, Scientific and Art Collections reaches out to a broad public beyond the frontiers of the disciplines and academic contexts through wide-ranging research and exhibition projects. Its goal is to develop the collections as conveyors of meaning in academic practice, as well as sources of scientific history, further to their use in artistic discourses, in the context of current research questions, and in didactic practices.

The preservation of the collections and of the University's cultural artifacts is regulated by the TUD's Regulation on Collections on the basis of the Heritage Protection Law of the State of Saxony.
The Office for Academic Heritage, Scientific and Art Collections is supported and advised by a Scientific Advisory Board.

In addition to the protection, maintenance, care and utilization of all of the cultural artifacts, the Office for Academic Heritage, Scientific and Art Collections is also charged with other tasks: It provides consultation regarding expanding the art collections, further to their display and representation in artistic and interior design contexts. It also advises on their historic preservation, as well as in relation to topics pertaining to the history of the University. It supports and advises the faculties, chairs and collection administrators with regard to the preservation and development of the collections in the context of matters related to the history of the University, as indeed of science.

The multifaceted exhibition activities by the Office for Academic Heritage, Scientific and Art Collections include showcasing a permanent exhibition that displays a cross-section from the University's collections in the fields of science and technology, as well as exhibits on the history of the University. The wider public is invited to an open discourse in special exhibitions and innovative communication formats, such as the Art Science Labs, that are located at the intersection of the natural, engineering and human sciences, as well as science and art. These formats are exhibited at the Altana Gallery in TU Dresden's Görges Building and at other venues in Dresden.