Hospital (Schwäbisch Gmünd)

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The hospital seen from the market square with the large half-timbered office building from 1434

The hospital , also Hospital zum Heiligen Geist or Heiliggeistspital , is a complex with a large, leafy inner courtyard on the northern market square in Schwäbisch Gmünd , which was used to care for the elderly, those in need of care and the sick and to this day houses a nursing home and “ assisted living ”. Until it was closed in 1984, the hospital was the oldest existing hospital in Germany. The Gmünd Hospital Foundation has existed since 1269 until today.

history

Hospital mill in the courtyard with an appearance from the 16th century
Office building seen from the inner courtyard, on the left at the edge a part of the clock room building
Hospital with old hospital church from Dominikus Debler's city ​​map

The establishment of the hospital is dated to shortly before 1269, since the hospital brothers received permission from Bishop Hartmann of Augsburg on June 8th to build a chapel on their property. On January 1, 1269, the hospital foundation was brought into being. This foundation, recognized as non-profit since 1954, continues to this day. The statutes of the Gmünder Hospitalstiftung provide for the “promotion and support of facilities for the elderly, the sick and those in need” as tasks and thus follows the tradition of the foundation's medieval purpose.

Parts of this chapel from 1269 were very likely to be found in the hospital church, which was demolished in 1841, which could be deduced from the condition of the masonry. In 1364 the hospital passed to the city of Schwäbisch Gmünd, with the hospital's area of ​​responsibility expanding to include the parishes of Dewangen , Lautern , Mögglingen and Weiler in the mountains, including the lower bed rings , and later also the upper bed ring. From this time onwards, more and more sick people and those in need of care who were undesirable were brought to the Katharinenspital to the special ciliation in front of the city walls. The influence of the hospital on the parishes of Wetzgau , Bargau and the Gmünder parishes was also very great, which in the 16th century meant that the Gmünder areas remained Catholic . At this time the hospital was the largest landowner in the Gmünd area, which among other things enabled him to take care of himself. The hospital maintained its self-catering status until 1951, for which purpose it maintained the hospital barn until 1951.

In 1840 it was decided to build a new hospital. This was followed by extensive demolition work, including the hospital church in 1841. In 1846 the new hospital building with a new, smaller hospital chapel was handed over. After the hospital barn was demolished in 1951, another new hospital building was inaugurated in 1954 , which at that time was the largest secular building in the city with five storeys. In 1984 the capacities of the hospital complex were exhausted, so that the hospital's time in the Heiliggeistspital came to an end after more than 700 years. Nevertheless, parts of the complex retained their original purpose as a facility for the elderly and people in need of care. After a competition in 1989, the last major renovations took place. The hospital office building from 1434 was built by the Stuttgart architects Heckmann until 1994 . Kristel. Jung converted from a hospital building into a city ​​library , revealing the inner medieval structure. The building from 1954 was expanded to a nursing home and a chapel building was added, as the hospital chapel from 1840 had been profaned when the hospital was closed in 1985. The hospital mill from before 1373 with its appearance from the 16th century was renovated and converted into a senior citizens' meeting center.

Todays use

Today the hospital complex is used for a wide variety of purposes. The new hospital building from 1954 accommodates the nursing home, the east wing of the hospital accommodates "assisted living". The wood-paneled clock room from 1596 is used for weddings and as a courtroom , the ground floor rooms of this building serve as a café . The adjacent large half-timbered building - the hospital's administrative building - now houses the city library, the former hospital chapel is used as a theater . The hospital complex also houses the tourist information and other city facilities. The green inner courtyard was designed in 1994 with bronze figures by Maria Kloss on the theme of paradise garden.

literature

  • Richard Strobel: The art monuments of the city of Schwäbisch Gmünd . Vol. 2, Munich / Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-422-00569-2 , p. 224 ff. (Basic).
  • Alfred Wörner (ed.), Johann Nepomuk Denkinger (participation): The municipal hospital for the Holy Spirit in Schwäb. Gmünd in the past and present. With a treatise on the history of hospitals in ancient times and the Middle Ages and a medical and scientific appendix . Laupp, Tübingen 1905 ( digitized version ).
  • Heinz-Dieter Heiss: The city hospital in the Hospital of the Holy Spirit , Schwäbisch Gmünd 2007, ISBN 978-3-93637-331-8 .
  • The Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Schwäbisch Gmünd. Selected sources on the history of the hospital from the Middle Ages to the present . Edited by David Schnur. With contributions by Hans-Helmut Dieterich, Hanspeter Johner and Dieter Rösch (= publications of the Schwäbisch Gmünd City Archives 14). Schwäbisch Gmünd: einhorn-Verlag 2019, ISBN 978-3-95747-091-1 .

Web links

Commons : Hospital of St. Geist Schwäbisch Gmünd  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Theodor Zanek: The Gumpenmühle - Spitalmühle. In: einhorn Jahrbuch Schwäbisch Gmünd 1989. Einhorn-Verlag Eduard Dietenberger, Schwäbisch Gmünd, 1989, ISBN 3-921703-99-9 , p. 109.
  2. ↑ a b 750 years of the Hospital Foundation in Gmünd: Helfender Engel , article on remszeitung.de from June 27, 2019.
  3. ↑ Hospital Foundation in Gmünd: Tasks have become more diverse , article on remszeitung.de from June 28, 2019.

Coordinates: 48 ° 48 ′ 6.1 ″  N , 9 ° 47 ′ 47.5 ″  E