The project was instituted by the German linguist Friedrich Panzer (Heidelberg) in association with the historians Karl Brandi (Göttingen) and Hans Hirsch (Vienna) as an interacademic venture of epigraphical publication in 1934.
: Inscriptions of the Middlerhine-Hunsrück) conducted in 2008 in cooperation with the "Institut für Geschichtliche Landeskunde an der Universität Mainz" (engl.
Besides the digitized scientific volumes DIO features; an advanced search interface; information concerning epigraphy; a number of regular series, on topics such as "Epigraphischer Tipp" (engl.
In addition the site presents a wide range of photographic images and illustrations of inscriptions or similar objects as a means of interlinking all possible information.
[1] These are the following volumes: In addition, there are six online catalogues, which are either only available in digital form or have not been published in print within the edition series "Die Deutschen Inschriften".
The team responsible for the DIO archive has also launched the online publication of a database of inscriptions in the “German national church” Santa Maria dell’Anima in Rome.
Its goal was to make information from the database accessible to the general public by simulating a "virtual visit" of the interior cloister of St. Stephen's Church, Mainz.