About the European Alpine Academy
– Founded by the James Loeb Society
– For students and young people
– Learn and strengthen German language skills
– Understand and experience humanism
An academy in the spirit of James Loeb
The European Alpine Academy offers a unique opportunity for students and young people to learn German while exploring models for a sustainable, humanistic way of life. Located in one of the most beautiful regions of the Bavarian Alps, the Alpine Academy explores the region’s natural environment and heritage, focusing on the current ecological and humanistic challenges of our time
The European Alpine Academy is an initiative and part of the James Loeb Society. Together with the Timaeus Society, the State Collections of Antiquities in Munich, Harvard University Press (including the Loeb Classical Library), and various university partners, it aims to highlight the central importance and relevance of the humanities to the major questions of our time.
"If you have a garden and a library, then you have everything you need." (Cicero)
There are plenty of summer academies—but what’s missing is a place that inspires the next generation to explore new paths. We live in a turbulent world. It is time to offer young and old alike a forum to see the world through new eyes and rediscover it for themselves. We must bring together people who are interested in questions about the future, such as the role of humans and humanity in the coming Anthropocene. This is not solely a task
for scientists, but for every thinking and reading person.
Questions about the future are nothing new. Recognizing events and developments has always been the central idea of antiquity. In his Loeb Classical Library, James Loeb raised questions for future generations. What is a human being? How should one live? What can, should, and must one do to live a rational life? We must ask ourselves these ancient questions once again today. If we explore these questions and bring them together with the ideas of sustainability and ecology, we can define the fundamental concept of this new Platonic Academy. In this Academy, however, people do not merely think and take walks; they also draw, bake, garden, and carve. If James Loeb’s legacy, the James Loeb Classical Library, teaches us one thing, it is this: being human is not a birthright, but a mission.
Classical Authors
Each year, a work by a Greek or Latin author from the James Loeb Classical Library series is selected. Over the course of the summer, this work is examined and discussed with a focus on its contemporary relevance.