In the wake of the Second Vatican Council and the renewed interest in the history of sinods, Walter Brandmüller and Remigius Bäumer launched a major project in 1968 to research the Ecumenical and Regional Councils.

First, the Annuarium Historiae Conciliorum - since vol. 50 (2020) Annales Historiae Conciliorum -, an international journal for research of conciliar history, founded by Walter Brandmüller and Remigius Bäumer † and published by the Gesellschaft für Konziliengeschichte e.V. since 2021, was published from 1969.

In 1979 and 1980 the first two volumes of the book series “Presentations” (“Darstellungen”) and “Investigations” (“Untersuchungen”) on the Councils were published.

The congresses, which bring together authors of the book series and the journal with other colleagues interested in the field of research, have been held at regular intervals since 1972 (Reisensburg), most recently in 2023 (Bamberg) on the topic of “Nizäa (325) – Konzil der Ökumene? Die Rezeption der „Großen Synode“ in Geschichte und Gegenwart”.

The project of a Lexicon of the Councils summarises the results so far and refers to the future work still to be done (currently - January 2024 - approx. 350 edited articles).

The research project History of Councils is currently led by Johannes Grohe (Rome) and Thomas Prügl (Vienna).