Cluster of Excellence Cross-Cultural Philology

The Cluster of Excellence Cross-Cultural Philology takes a cross-cultural approach to the study of philological practices and cultural dynamics over a 5,000-year period. The cluster is one of the largest humanities initiatives funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Cooperations within the Cluster of Excellence

To ensure that philological practices are researched from a global perspective, the Cluster of Excellence collaborates with multiple national and international partners.

Involved Faculties (LMU)

7 Faculties of the LMU collaborate in the Cluster.

Participating Disciplines

In addition to disciplines that are traditionally considered to be philological, other areas such as musicology and legal history also form part of the Cluster.

International Cooperation

The Cluster of Excellence cooperates with numerous renowned institutions worldwide, including Harvard University, the British Library, the Pontifical Biblical Institute, the Ben Zvi Institute, the University of Tokyo, and many more.

Newsfeed

08 Jun

08/06/2026 Opening ceremony & reception Cluster of Excellence Cross-Cultural Philology
All faculty members, students and interested parties are invited to the launch of the new research network
13 May

13/05/2026 CAS Lunch Talk: Can Language Models Scale Down to Understand Local Context?
Prof. Ted Underwood discusses how language models can be evaluated on their ability to understand local contexts.
11 May

11/05/2026 AI as a Cultural Technology
Language: English
Latest news

The Cluster will research and safeguard a significant part of the global cultural heritage, and contribute to the pressing social challenge of improving understanding and communication between cultures.

Prof. Dr. Beate Kellner, Spokeswoman of the Cluster of Excellence Cross-Cultural Philology Listen to the full interview with Prof. Kellner