The structure of the publication

The medieval history of Livonia – the historical conditions for the development of an architectural landscape in a European border region

(settlement history, a history of trade and the Hanseatic League, the ethnic, social, religious and economic structure of the country, the special political role of the Archbishop of Riga and the Teutonic Order)

The Cathedral of Riga as a monumental initial building of Livonia´s history of architecture: genesis, building history, significance

• Historical news and the historical context of the Cathedral and its development
• Description of the Cathedral and the cloister
• Architectural history according to written sources and evidence
• Architectural models and the genesis of the Cathedral
• The Cathedral of Riga as a pioneering building of red-brick architecture in Europe´s Northeast
• The sculptural features of the Cathedral in a regional and European comparison

The cathedrals of the Livonian bishoprics

• The status of bishoprics and bishops in Livonia
• The Cathedral of Reval/Tallinn
• The Cathedral of Hapsal/Haapsalu
• The Cathedral of Dorpat/Tartu
• The Cathedral of Hasenpot/Aizpute
• The Cathedral of Alt-Pernau/Pärnu
• The architecture of Livonian cathedrals and how they are related to other sacral buildings in the country

Urban church architecture in Livonia in the context of the sacral architecture of the cities of the Hanseatic League in the Baltic region

• St. Peter´s Church in Riga and St. Mary´s Church in Rostock: independence and dependency of urban church architecture
• St. John in Tartu
• Urban churches in Tallinn
• Urban churches in Estonia
• Urban churches in Latvia
• Mendicant orders and their significance for the urban topography

Bourgeois representation and the representation of the territorial lords by way of urban secular buildings

(the founding of cities, urban development, spatial development; city walls, city halls, guild halls, hospitals, houses of Blackheads)

• Historical, legal and economic bases of urban formation and development
• Historical city portraits (Foundations of cities, urban structure and spatial development)
• City fortifications
• Communal and representative buildings of the bourgeoisie (City halls, Guild halls of the Brotherhoods of Blackheads, hospitals)
• Bourgeois houses in Riga and Reval

The Livonian monasteries as specific architectural solutions in an endangered border region

• Mendicant orders
• The Monastery of St. Bridget, Cistercian nuns
• Fortified monasteries of the Cistercians

The specific features of rural sacral architecture under conditions of colonisation

(Christianity as foreign rule, the organisation of greater parishes by the ruling elite; cultural-scientific aspects)

• The medieval structure of parishes in the rural regions
• Types of parish churches and their regional distribution

The architecture of Livonian fortifications

(castles and the fortifications of cities as an important construction task in a border region, the representation of power on the border to Orthodox Russia, how Livonia´s castle architecture is related to the architecture of fortifications in Prussia as a part of the state of the Teutonic Order)

• The beginnings of castle building in the late 12^th century and the 13^th century 
• Residential castles of the Teutonic Order, of the Archbishop of Riga and the Bishops; spatial programme and utilisation structure of the residences
• Castles of territorial lords
• Castle building by vassals
• The construction of castles in Livonia under typological aspects
• Castle building and the representation of power on Livonia´s borders (e. g. Neuhausen, Vasknarva, Narva: external and internal borders, coastal regions)
• The modernisation of the Livonian castles at the transition to the Early Modern Age against the background of new weapons and technologies of warfare
• Castle building in Livonia in the context of defensive architecture in Europe

Danish building activities in the Duchy of Estonia

• The Livonian architecture of the Danish period from a Danish perspective – a research history

Individual cases of architecture and architectural sculpture 

• Pillows, portals, gables
• Architectural sculpture

Building materials and colour design

• Natural stone and red-brick
• Colour design and wall paintings

Construction organisation and construction funding in medieval Livonia

• The fabrica ecclesia in Livonia in the European context
• Preserved church bills as sources of the history of donations, building history and social history (Riga, Reval, Kegel/Keila)
• The organisation of secular building (in part. by order of the City Council of Tallinn)

Research history from the 18^th century until present time in the tension area of the developing nationalities (Baltic Germans, Estonians, Latvians, Russians)

• Chronology and national points of view
• Debate on the so called `Riga Building School´ (St. Jacob in Riga, St. John in Wenden/Cēsis, St. Simeon in Wolmar/Valmiera, Urbs/Urvaste)

Medieval architecture in Livonia as a common cultural heritage of Germans, Estonians and Latvians in the 21^st century: a view at the present