Since when have architects existed? (Author: Krisztina Adamy) Throughout history, the profession of architect and the associated tasks and areas of responsibility have changed and been defined several times. The first architects were also master builders and were responsible for the overall design and construction of buildings. In the ancient era, they took care of both the design and the statics and supervised the construction process. At that time, architects were both artists and engineers and their commissions were initially limited to sacred and monumental buildings. Around 2600 BC, in Egyptian times, Imhotep was the chief architect of the Egyptian pyramids, the first architect in the history of mankind to be recorded by name. In ancient Greece, Kallikrates and Iktinos are associated with the construction of the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens. In the 1st century BC, Vitruvius, a Roman architect, engineer and architectural theorist, published the world-famous "De architectura libri decem", the ten books on architecture, a comprehensive description of architecture and the state of knowledge of civil engineering at the time. In the Middle Ages, the profession of architect was unknown; there were only craftsmen who passed on their knowledge, which was often kept secret, from master to journeyman and apprentice. It was not until the Renaissance, when antiquity was rediscovered and brought back to life, that the profession regained its importance. Later, due to industrialisation in the 18th and 19th centuries, the profession changed significantly. In addition to the above-mentioned public building tasks, private clients were now added. The building (apartment block, town house, factory) became a status symbol of the bourgeois elite. Due to technical, economic and social progress, there were new challenges for those involved in construction. These changes have left their mark. The tasks of architects were divided between different disciplines, such as statics, building physics and building technology. Even from the narrower professional field of architects, several specialised disciplines such as urban planning, landscape architecture and interior design have emerged.