Valentin Groebner, born in 1962 in Vienna, has been Professor of History at the University of Lucerne since 2004. In 2024 he received the Science Prize of the Aby Warburg Foundation Hamburg and the Culture Prize of the City of Lucerne.

His work connects the study of the past with phenomena of the present. In what forms do we consume the vanished past for which we feel a melancholic — and pleasurable — longing? He is the author of numerous books on cultural and everyday history, including Retroland: Tourism, History and the Longing for the Authentic (2018), Ferienmüde: When Travel No Longer Helped (2020), and most recently Abgefahren: Travelling for Pleasure (2025). He lives and works in Lucerne.

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