Curriculum

The Master's programme in Cultural Heritage and Cultural Property Protection has a modular structure and spans four semesters. In the first two semesters, students deal with the theoretical, economic, political and legal foundations of tangible and intangible cultural heritage as part of the basic modules ‘Cultural Heritage’ and ‘Cultural Property Protection’. In the advanced module, students expand their knowledge in the field of intangible cultural heritage and world heritage management. The practical module offers an introduction to object handling and collection management as well as to the field of digital heritage. Starting in the second semester, the elective area offers an in-depth study of specific aspects of cultural heritage such as provenance research, legal foundations, practical knowledge transfer to the public, or specific content related to tangible or intangible cultural heritage (such as language and writing). In the third semester, students are required to complete an internship of at least two months at one of the programme's cooperation partners or another institution (museum, World Heritage site, scientific institution, national or international cultural heritage protection institution, NGO) of their choice. The topic of the Master's thesis, which is to be written in the final semester, may arise from the work carried out during the internship.

Core Module I: Cultural Heritage
In Core Module I, students are introduced to theoretical and practical fundamentals, key questions and research approaches within the field of Cultural Heritage. The content of the module focuses on engaging with theoretical considerations and practical concepts of Cultural Heritage. As part of the compulsory excursion, students gain insights into practical approaches and concepts relating to landscapes and sites with World Heritage status or particular relevance.

Core Module II: Protection of Cultural Property
This module deepens the engagement with various aspects of Cultural Heritage and introduces the fundamentals of the protection of cultural property. Among other things, political and economic aspects of Cultural Heritage are examined through case studies, as well as the role of investigative authorities (state criminal investigation offices, Federal Criminal Police Office, customs) and the involvement of legal actors and dimensions in the protection of cultural property.

Practical Module
In the Practical Module, students acquire basic knowledge in handling collections and archives, as well as in dealing with different groups of objects and materials. They are also introduced to the various forms of Digital Heritage and experiment with different digitisation strategies. During a work placement of at least eight weeks in a subject-related or closely related professional field, students apply their acquired knowledge and skills and develop corresponding professional competences.

Advanced Module
In the Advanced Module, students gain in-depth knowledge of different forms of tangible and intangible Cultural Heritage. They also gain insights into the management and public communication strategies of individual World Heritage sites. Furthermore, students are given a fundamental overview of planning an academic career, with particular attention to the acquisition of third-party funding.

Final Module
The module consists of writing a Master's thesis, a detailed academic paper on a selected topic related to cultural heritage and/or cultural property protection. Students present their work at the Heidelberg Centre for Cultural Heritage's academic colloquium and apply key academic skills and knowledge in writing their thesis. MA theses for the programme should also be based on independent empirical research (of an appropriate scope) and/or recognisably independent, methodologically guided analyses (e.g. analyses of text or video documents, exhibitions).  

Within the broad repertoire of interdisciplinary courses offered in the Master's programme in Cultural Heritage and Cultural Property Protection, all students choose one of five elective areas after the first semester. The respective elective modules are designed to further deepen methodological and theoretical skills and enable a more specific focus on the students' educational background, personal interests and professional goals.

Cultures of the World

This module enables students to deepen their knowledge in specific fields of tangible and intangible cultural heritage and relate this to current issues in cultural heritage and cultural property protection. To this end, they can choose courses from a broad canon of diverse subjects that deal primarily with the tangible and/or intangible cultural heritage of a particular era, culture or region.

Writing and Language as Cultural Heritage

This module enables students to deepen their knowledge in the areas of ‘writing’ and ‘language’ as intangible cultural heritage. Students examine selected languages and scripts, learn how to handle various written archival materials, and analyse their scientific potential.

Provenance and Forgery Research

This module teaches the fundamentals of provenance research and how to deal with forgeries of tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Methods of provenance research and the resulting issues (such as restitution) are discussed using selected examples. Students also gain an overview of forgery analysis using scientific and technical methods.

Legal Foundations

This module enables students to acquire basic legal knowledge in fields related to cultural heritage and cultural property protection. Students choose either a public law or civil law focus. The module is based on two introductory lectures on public law and civil law, respectively. These are followed by three further lectures that explore the topics in greater depth. In the area of public law, these are building law, international law and tax law. In the case of civil law, these are property law and private international law I and II.

Communication and presentation of cultural heritage

This module teaches the basics of communicating scientific content to the general public through presentations and exhibitions. Selected forms and techniques of knowledge transfer and current communication concepts are developed and applied to specific exhibition and promotion projects.