Artibus et Historiae: The idea of publishing a new art journal was conceived in the late seventies and realized after the International Congress of Art History in Bologna (1979). Thus IRSA Publishing House was brought into being and the first number of Artibus et Historiae came out in 1980.

The International Institute for Art Historical Research (IRSA - Istituto per le Ricerche di Storia dell'Arte), as a publishing house, was founded with its headquarters first in Venice (1979-1982), then in Florence and Vienna, and recently (since 1996) - in Cracow, Poland.

The title of our art journal - Artibus et Historiae - comes from the very private experiences of its founder, Józef Grabski. ARTIBUS is an inscription on the fronton of an old and very prestigious art exhibition hall ("ZACHĘTA", founded in 1860) in his native Warsaw. The second part of the title, ET HISTORIAE, is a tribute paid to the Countess Karolina Lanckorońska, professor in art history and editor of historical sources for the Polish history in her own "Institutum Historicum Polonicum" in Rome, Italy.

The specific sign of IRSA and Artibus et Historiae - a symbolical representation of a winged angel standing firmly on a balance, held in his own hands - comes from a Renaissance painting by Lorenzo Lotto (Portrait of a Man, Collection Doria Pamphili, Rome) and symbolises the Platonic idea of internal equilibrium between the spiritual and the physical aspects of the activities and existence of man.

Artibus et Historiae is a journal dedicated to the visual arts, published by IRSA Publishing House. The lavishly illustrated articles cover a broad range of subjects, including photography and film, as well as traditional topics of scholarly art research.

Artibus et Historiae particularly encourages interdisciplinary studies - art history in conjunction with other humanistic fields, such as psychology, sociology, philosophy, or literature - and unconventional approaches. Thus it is hoped that the current trends in art history will be well represented in our issues.

Artibus et Historiae appears twice a year, in hardback. The articles are in one of four languages: English, Italian, German, or French, at the author's discretion.