Georgenhospital (Berlin)

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The Georgenhospital was next to the Heilig-Geist-Spital the oldest hospital of the sister cities Berlin and Cölln . Both hospitals were first mentioned in a guild letter in 1278.

Above: Georgenhospital, chapel and plague house (with roof attachment). Bottom left: Georgentor, right: monastery church
Georgenkirchplatz around 1846 (Georgenhospital No. 34, left below the church)

The hospital under the patronage of St. George was called domus leprosorum , the leper house. It originally served the isolated custody of the "lepers", as leprosy patients were called until the 19th century . This disease had spread widely in Central Europe as a result of the Crusades and pilgrimages . Unlike the Heilig-Geist-Spital, but as in other cities, the Leprosenhaus was outside the city, in front of the Oderberger , the later Georgentor , where several long-distance trade routes branched out. After the decline in leprosy diseases, it continued to be used as a plague, infirmary and poor house.

The complex, consisting of several houses and stalls, also included the chapel mentioned in a papal letter of indulgence in 1331 , from which the Georgenkirche emerged in the 17th century as the parish church of the expanding Georgenvorstadt . The victims of the neighboring Rabenstein and others who were “not allowed to have a Christian burial” were buried on the “poor sinners ground” of the Georgenkirchhof . In 1720 the “ Pesthaus ”, as the hospital was also called, was demolished due to disrepair and replaced by a new building at Georgenkirchplatz 34/35. The Lexicon of Berlin also states: “The hospitalites have to pay 250 Rthlr. shop, and get free apartment, wood, 8 to 9 pounds of bread a week, and several other needs. "

Other charitable institutions had already been built on Georgenkirchplatz , such as the Spletthaus for poor widows or in 1674 the Dorotheenhospital "for destitute strangers". At the old place of execution, one of Rücker's free schools had been built before 1733 . In one of the former garrison hospitals, Johann August Zeune opened Germany's first school for the blind in 1806, and one of Kornmesser's orphanages was added later. In the second half of the 19th century, however, many of the social institutions around Georgenkirchplatz had to give way to more intensive development in the area around Alexanderplatz . The Georgenhospital therefore received a new building in the Berlin district of Wedding in 1885 together with the Heilig-Geist-Spital .

A representative new building of the Georgenkirche led to a significant redesign of the area in 1898. After considerable damage during the war and the urban reorganization of the post-war period, nothing can be seen of this or the previous development.

literature

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Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans Jahn: Berlin in the year of death of the great elector. In: Writings of the Association for the History of Berlin. Booklet 55, p. 40. The "House of Health" at Karl-Marx-Allee 3 is now located on Landsberger Straße 27 (later No. 49) named by Jahn for Rabenstein.
  2. ↑ Richard Borrmann : The architectural and art monuments of Berlin. Berlin 1982, p. 180 f.
  3. ^ Johann Christian Gädicke: Lexicon of Berlin . P. 237
  4. ^ Friedrich Nicolai : Description of the royal residence cities Berlin and Potsdam. Berlin 1786, p. 34
  5. ↑ Rudolf Virchow et al .: The institutions of the city of Berlin for public health care and for natural science. Classes. Berlin 1886, p. 192 f.
  6. ↑ The former location of the Georgen Hospital is now roughly on the median of Alexanderstraße in front of the Haus des Reisens

Coordinates: 52 ° 31 ′ 20 "  N , 13 ° 24 ′ 58"  E