The Max van Berchem Foundation was established in 1973 in honour of Max van Berchem (1863-1921), the founding scholar of Arabic epigraphy as its own discipline. In recent years, the Foundation has financed archaeological excavations, research projects and studies in Islamic art and architecture in all the countries of North Africa, of the Near East, of Central Asia, in Western and Eastern Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, Armenia), in Ukraine, in Iran, in Iraq, in Oman, in the United Arab Emirates, in Afghanistan, in India, in Pakistan, in China, in the Maldives, in Sudan, in Ghana and in Ethiopia. It has also provided financial support for epigraphical projects in France (the Thesaurus d'Epigraphie Islamique), in several European countries, in the Near East, in North Africa, in Central Asia, in Iran, in Afghanistan, in China, in Yemen, in Sudan et in Bengal.
