General Polyclinic Vienna

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The building of the former polyclinic in Vienna-Alsergrund, Mariannengasse 10
Inscription above the entrance
The leading personalities of the Vienna Polyclinic, 1902.
(from left to right: August Leopold von Reuss , Auxiliary Bishop Godfried Marschall , Princess Pauline von Metternich , Alois Monti , Julius Mauthner

The Allgemeine Poliklinik was a hospital in Vienna where numerous well-known Austrian doctors worked.

The polyclinic was founded in 1872 by twelve young university assistants, making it the first of its kind in Europe. The novelty of the Vienna Polyclinic was that efforts were made to cover the entire range of medical subjects, while foreign polyclinics were always geared towards individual medical fields. That is why this Viennese institution was also called the “General Polyclinic”. The founders were:

A few months later the following were added:

In the first year of its activity, 12,000 patients were treated free of charge in 56,456 ordinations and lectures were given by 14 lecturers for 217 listeners.

Originally located in Wipplingerstraße in the first district , these were ambulances that were primarily intended to improve the care of poor patients and, on the other hand, to facilitate teaching and research work. The costs of the operation were initially borne by the founders themselves, but four years later an association was founded to fund the business and collected donations. Princess Pauline von Metternich in particular supported the association.

In 1875, Leopold Oser , who was known as the “only and best gastric specialist in Austria”, introduced a flexible stomach tube instead of a rigid tube for gastroscopy (“gastroscopy”), which was developed in 1867 by gastroenterologist Adolf Kussmaul . This flexible stomach tube conformed better to the human anatomy and was able to both alleviate the inconvenience of the examination and enable the doctor to analyze gastric function. In addition, a dangerous perforation of the esophagus or the stomach, which often occurred with rigid gastroscopy and which was often fatal, was prevented.

In 1875 the outpatient clinic moved to Oppolzergasse in the same district and in 1880 to Schwarzspanierstrasse in the ninth district, whereby the first inpatient hospital with five beds had already started. The polyclinic moved into the building in Mariannengasse in which it stayed until the end in 1892.

The individual hospital departments, outpatient departments and an auditorium were gradually built here. From 1896 there was an X-ray cabinet , which in 1904 developed into Austria's first X-ray institute. From 1898 to 1930 Julius Mannaberg worked as the head of the internal department of the Vienna General Polyclinic.

But other departments also emerged. Sun founded Anton von Frisch (1849-1917) reached the first urologic clinic in Europe and that the urology as a separate subject at the University of Vienna has been installed. Johann Schnitzler (1835-1893), Arthur Schnitzler's father , opened a laryngological department. Arthur Schnitzler himself also worked with him as an assistant until 1893. His work “ Professor Bernhardi ”, written in 1912, was modeled on the outpatient clinic.

Following the example of the polyclinic, numerous clinics were built across Europe at the turn of the century. She has always been a pioneer in new therapies. The world's first hydrotherapeutic bed ward was set up under Wilhelm Winternitz . Viktor Frankl headed the neurological department from 1946 to 1970. Johannes Bischko set up an acupuncture clinic , which became known in 1972 with the first tonsil surgery with acupuncture instead of anesthesia. In 1975 the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Homeopathy was opened by Mathias Dorcsi (* 1923).

From 1938 the polyclinic was owned by the municipality of Vienna. It was used briefly as a geriatric rehabilitation center, but was finally closed on December 15, 1998. The Vienna Competence Center was set up as a location for research institutions and companies from the fields of medicine, biomedicine, medical technology and additional service areas on the site, which, in addition to the building in Mariannengasse, included other adjacent areas up to Lazarettgasse .

Between 2008 and 2012, the listed main building of the former Vienna Polyclinic and the adjacent buildings were completely renovated and transformed into a representative and contemporary office and living environment.

literature

  • Horst Haschek, Peter Porpaczy: A different kind of Secession. The Vienna Polyclinic . In: Austria Today 1986, 3, ISSN  0304-8713 , pp. 25-27.
  • Erich E. Deimer (Hrsg.): Chronicle of the general polyclinic in Vienna in the mirror of the medical and social history . Göschl, Vienna 1989, ISBN 3-85097-056-6 .

Web links

Commons : Allgemeine Poliklinik Wien  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Polyclinic History of a Viennese Institution , Contributions to the Past and Present of the IX. District, p. 7. Accessed July 7, 2020.
  2. http://www.prisma-zentrum.com/standorte/wien/vienna-policenter/

Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 58.1 ″  N , 16 ° 20 ′ 57 ″  E