THE ROMANIAN ACADEMY’S INSTITUTE FOR SOUTH-EAST EUROPEAN STUDIES

The Romanian Academy’s Institute for South-East European Studies (ISEES), re-established in 1963 under the direction of Mihai Berza, is the rightful successor of the the Institute for South-East European Studies (founded by N. Iorga in 1913) and of the Institute for Balkan Studies and Researches (founded by Victor Papacostea in 1937), both abolished by the Communist regime in 1948.

ISEES is meant to contribute to the development of scientific researches of the Balkans and, in a broader sense, of the entirety of South-East Europe, to the progressive knowledge of the peoples from this area, to the underlining of the common elements in their history and culture. ISEES systematically researches the influence of the main factors of unity on the the South-East European world: Greek culture and civilization, the Roman Empire and its civilization, the Byzantine Empire and its civilization, the South-Slavic states, languages, and cultures, Neo-Hellenism, Christian Orthodoxy, the Ottoman Empire and its civilization, European modernism.

The general research fields of the ISEES are, as per the UNESCO classification, the comparative history of the peoples from South-East Europe, the comparative history of the arts and literatures of South-East Europe, Balkan linguistics and the general and comparative anthropology of South-East Europe.

The first Institute for South-East European Studies was founded in Bucharest, in 1913, by N. Iorga (1871-1940) in collaboration with the archeologist Vasile Pârvan (1882-1927) and the geographer Gheorghe Murgoci (1872-1925). From its beginning, the Institute had an interdisciplinary character as the meeting place of diverse preoccupations covering the whole field of social sciences. This character is visible in the Institute’s publication, Bulletin de l’Institut pour l’Étude de l’Europe Sud-Orientale (1914-1923), later renamed as Revue historique du Sud-Est européen (1924-1947). The two publications were led by the founder of the Institute until 1940 and, after his death, by the historians Gheorghe Brătianu (1898-1953) and Nicolae Bănescu (1878-1971) until 1947. Parallelly to this, the Institute for Balkan Studies and Researches was founded in 1937 and led by Victor Papacostea (1900-1962), under whose supervision the Institute published the periodical journal Balcania (1938-1947). The general objective of the two institutes was the detailed study of the lives and cultures of the peoples of South-East Europe from Antiquity until the modern era. These researches led to the definition of a geographical, social and cultural space, as well as of a self-contained scientific domain.

After being suppressed by the communist regime in 1947, the two institutes

, cele două institute s-au impus însă prin amploarea și însemnătatea cercetărilor întreprinse de fondatorii și colaboratorii lor de-a lungul a peste trei decenii de existență. Ele s-au aflat la temelia noului Institut de Studii Sud-Est Europene, reînființat în 1963, sub conducerea lui Mihai Berza. Noul institut a reunit o parte din colaboratorii institutelor fondate de N. Iorga și Victor Papacostea, păstrându-și intacte obiectivele generale și caracterul interdisciplinar. Sub această nouă înfățișare, Institutul și-a redobândit rapid renumele internațional prin calitatea cercetărilor membrilor săi și a studiilor publicate în principala sa publicație, Revue des Études sud-est européennes, înființată în 1963 și care continuă în prezent.

The reorganization of the Institute was accompanied by the founding of the International Association of South-East European Studies (IASEES), with the central headquarters in Bucharest, which organiz  Reorganizarea Institutului a fost însoțită de înființarea unei Asociații Internaționale de Studii Sud-Est Europene (AIESEE), al cărei sediu central se află la București, sub egida căreia au fost organizate regulat, începând din 1966, 11 Congrese internaționale de studii sud-est europene, dintre care două la București, în 1974 și 1999, următorul Congres urmând să aibă loc din nou la București, în 2019.