On April 21, 1829 a group of scholars, artists and diplomats founded the »Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica« in order to research and make better known monuments of ancient art, epigraphy and topography. The Prussian Crown Prince and later King Friedrich Wilhelm IV became patron, and in 1832 when Eduard Gerhard, the actual initiator of the Institute, moved to Berlin, the management of the existing facility in Rome was transferred as well. Beginning in 1859, Prussia supported the financing of the Institute on a regular basis. In 1871, it became a Prussian State Institute and in 1874 an Imperial Institute. In the same year the Athens Section was founded and in the following century, sections in Cairo, Istanbul, Madrid, Baghdad, and Tehran, as well as two commissions in Germany (Frankfurt and Munich) were founded or affiliated. In 1979, the Commission for General and Comparative Archaeology, which is responsible for archaeological research outside of Europe and the Old World, was established in Bonn. Finally, stations in Sanai and Damascus, in addition to branch offices in Lisbon, Ankara and Ingolstadt were set up. In 1995, the Eurasian Section for archaeological research in the Non-Allied Countries and in neighboring areas was founded incorporating the Teheran Section within it. The Near East Section was created in 1996 by joining together the Baghdad Section with the stations at Damascus and Sanai.