These fragments play a central role in the reconstruction of medieval manuscripts that were long considered lost. Often containing previously unknown text variants, they provide new insights into the history of Jewish science and scholarship.
This project aims to systematically record, identify, and codicologically and palaeographically describe all Hebrew fragments found in Austrian libraries. This is the responsibility of the Institute for Jewish History in Austria, St. Pölten.
Analysis of the original carrier manuscripts is conducted either directly on the fragments themselves or in conjunction with the manuscript studies at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
The focus is on fragments in manuscripts, incunabula, and early prints kept in libraries and archives within Austria's current borders. Later archive catalogues and relevant privately owned collections are also included in the study. Holdings outside Austria are only considered if they are directly linked to Austrian fragments. Fragments from South Tyrol are included if they are located in Austrian or South Tyrolean diocesan or monastery archives, or if they are part of research projects on manuscripta.at.
