Society for Art History in Switzerland  The Society for Art History in Switzerland (, , ) is a Swiss learned society dedicated to promoting the understanding of Swiss art history and particularly of Swiss topography of art, including the study and maintenance of Swiss cultural heritage sites. The society founded in 1880 publishes a wide range of monographies, guides and inventories. These include the series "Art monuments of Switzerland" (, ), which includes more than hundred volumes, the first of which was published in 1927. It also publishes the quarterly journal "Kunst und Architektur in der Schweiz". The "«Gesellschaft für schweizerische Kunstgeschichte GSK»" (Society for the history of art in Switzerland SHAS), named thus since 1934, was founded in June 1880 in Zofingen under the name of the "«Vaterländische Gesellschaft für Erhaltung historischer Denkmäler»" (Patriotic Society for the preservation of historic monuments). Its creation was due to important personalities, members of the Schweizerischer Kunstverein (Swiss society of fine arts), and its first president was the Genevan painter, Theodore de Saussure, grandson of the celebrated naturalist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure. The vice-presidency was held by the Zurich art historian Johann Rudolf Rahn. The «Patriotic society for the preservation of historic monuments» had as its aim to preserve and restore architectural monuments, but also to save scattered works of art by bringing them together in museums, to arouse a better understanding for the «fine arts» and to support artists, painters and sculptors. In the statutes adopted at the meeting of this committee on 20 June 1880, the name of the society was altered to «Verein für Erhaltung vaterländischer Kunstdenkmäler» (Association for the preservation of artistic monuments of the fatherland). The regulations stipulated that the sums received must be divided and entered in the accounts in two equal shares to be used, on the one hand, to finance publications and, on the other hand, to buy works of art and old objects of value. This second part of the fund was also allocated for the restoration of historic monuments that were at risk of being destroyed or falling into ruin. The association changed its name once more at the general meeting in Lausanne in 1881 to become the "«Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Erhaltung historischer Kunstdenkmäler»" (Swiss society for the preservation of historic art monuments).