After its foundation in 1946, the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte (ZI), Munich, started its activities in 1947. Since then it resides in the former "Administration building" of the National Socialist party near Königsplatz. After the end of the war, the United States Military Government had established a central collecting point to repatriate the art of works carried off by the National Socialists.
 
The ZI, itself defining as a place of academic exchange and likewise as a platform for international encounters, is the only art historical research institute of nation wide significance in Germany. It organises lectures and symposia and edits various publications, as there is the Reallexikon zur Deutschen Kunstgeschichte and the Kunstchronik, an art history journal, that features articles on museum matters and on the preservation of monuments and historic buildings.
 
Thanks to its large holdings that can be consulted with free shelf access as well as its photograph collection, the ZI offers excellent conditions for research, unrivalled in Germany.