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 2018 (Rome) on the topic of “Council and Minority”. The next meeting from 29th September - 1st October 2021 in Dresden will have the theme “Council and the World of Monasteries”.

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 2021 - approx. 300 edited articles).

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