Institute Location
 

Since its establishment on 1 November 1956, the institute functioned in several different locations from Sibiu. After its founding as the Department of Social Sciences of the Cluj Branch of the Romanian Academy, the institute operated in a relatively large room in the Parish House of the Evangelical Church. Afterwards, it occupied a room on the second floor of the County Courthouse building on Bulevardul Victoriei, from where it was moved to one of the ground floor rooms of the Brukenthal Palace. The department was subsequently moved to the Blue House, from where it returned to the Brukenthal Palace, this time in one of the baroque halls. From July 1970, when the Sibiu Department of Social Sciences acquired the status of an independent institution, subordinated to the Academy of Social and Political Sciences, under the name of Sibiu Center of Social Sciences, it obtained its first headquarters: a large apartment with six rooms, on Tribunei Street, at the corner with Alexandru Xenopol Street. In 1974, the institute was forced to move to Octombrie Roşu Street, No. 2 (the present-day Samuel Brukenthal Street), where it received three large offices and four other smaller rooms which offered relatively good working conditions. On 1 April 1990, the Sibiu Center for Social Sciences rejoined the Romanian Academy and received its present name - the Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities. In 1990, the institute also obtained a new headquarters: the former guest house of Nicu Ceauşescu (on Lucian Blaga Street), a spacious and modern villa. This location encompassed 11 offices and auxiliary spaces, so that two researchers worked in most rooms. The institute functioned in this building until 2002, when it was ceded back to a previous owner.

In 2003, the institute was offered a large two-storey building, which was renovated and modernized with the help of the Hermann Niermann Foundation (Germany) and of the Romanian Academy. This location is rented from the Consistory of the Evangelical Church CA in Romania. After the renovation, the interior space was reorganized, so that one or two researchers work in each office. Thus, the building comprises a spacious library, which serves as a conference room, 14 offices, auxiliary spaces (a book storage, an archive, large corridors, kitchen) and a guest room.

Following the reorganization of the institute building, one of the largest rooms was reserved for the library. The beginnings of the current library coincide with the establishment of the Sibiu Department of Social Sciences of the Romanian Academy Branch in Cluj in 1956. Back then, the first collection of books and periodicals was set up, coming from the archive of the Dictionary of Transylvanian Saxon Dialects. The initial fund was gradually diversified with books received from the Cluj Branch of the Romanian Academy. In 1970, when the Sibiu Section became the Center of Social Sciences, the library had around 3,000 books and periodicals. Today, the fund of publications exceeds 20,000 library items. During the last six decades, the library collection was enriched through acquisitions, subscriptions and donations. As a specialized library with a closed circuit, it is accessible not only to our staff, but to all those interested: researchers from other institutions, museographers, teachers, students, etc.