Cornered between Germany, Poland and Czech Republic and therefore looking back on a rich history, its goal is to provide historical research and enhance knowledge transfer in the region.

[1] In 1779, Görlitz had roughly 7,500 inhabitants and was the center of the economical and political independent Upper Lusatia at the corner of the Electorate of Saxony.

Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences was founded 1779 in Görlitz by the initiative of the lawyer, historian and linguist Karl Gottlob Anton (1751–1818) and the landlord and natural scientist Adolf Traugott von Gersdorff (1744–1807).

As one of the two founders, Gersdorrf donated his collected scientific volumes and a library with about 10,000 books to the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences.

His travel journals, geographic works and maps show a remarkable intellectual life in the Upper Lusatia and a vivid exchange with thinkers in Europe.

The resident of Görlitz and lawyer Karl Gottlob Anton, ennobled in 1802, wanted to found a 'busy academic society' in 1779.

As founder and secretary of the Society he bought the house in Handwerk street on the Lower Market Square to meet the demand of the growing library.

It contains the collected items of Karl Gottlob Anton, Adolf Traugott von Gersdorff and assets of other scholars and poets of Upper Lusatia.

The collection ranges from manuscripts of the great Upper Lusatian enlightener Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus (1651-1708) to records of the Bad Muskau poet and Pückler-confidant Leopold Schefer (1784-1862) to the estate of the Görlitz writer and publicist Ludwig Kunz (1890-1976).