Holy Spirit Hospital (Frombork)
| Holy Spirit Hospital | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Alternative names | Museum of the History of Medicine |
| General information | |
| Address | Stara Street |
| Town or city | Frombork |
| Country | Poland |
| Year(s) built | 15th century |
The Holy Spirit Hospital is a 15th century hospital in Frombork, Poland. It is a protected monument and currently houses the Department of the History of Medicine of the Nicolaus Copernicus Museum in Frombork.[1]
Name
According to Fielding Hudson Garrison, the tradition of dedicating hospitals to the Holy Spirit began with the Ospedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia in 1204.[2] Rudolf Virchow lists 155 hospitals named for the Holy Spirit (heiliggeistspitäler) throughout medieval German-speaking lands.[3]
History
The hospital dates to the first half of the 15th century in what was then Teutonic and then Polish Prussian lands. In 1507, bishop Lucas Watzenrode transferred the property to the Antonites who managed the hospital until 1519.[4] Nicholas Copernicus, who had personally witnessed the 1507 transfer, permanently moved to Frombork in 1510 and likely treated patients at the hospital.[5][6] Copernicus had received medical training at the University of Padua, but his practice likely constituted of mostly herbal and non-surgical remedies.[5] An herbal garden currently exists at the hospital in the modern period.[7]
The hospital saw multiple renovations in the 17th and 18th centuries.[1] By 1837, local priests were still listed as managers of a Holy Spirit Hospital in Frombork.[8] The hospital building was destroyed during World War II, and renovations occurred in the 1970s, after which the structure became a museum.[7]
Complex
The structure is of brick and plaster.[1] An adjacent chapel for St. Anne contains a 15th century fresco.[7] A 2022 inventory of the herb garden found Origanum vulgare, Melissa officinalis, Levisticum officinale, Lavandula angustifolia, Salvia officinalis, Hyssopus officinalis, and Rosmarinus officinalis.[9]
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Hospital of the Holy Spirit with the chapel of St Anne". zabytek.pl. Retrieved 2025-07-18.
- ^ Garrison, Fielding Hudson (1924). An Introduction to the History of Medicine. W.B. Saunders Company. p. 170 – via Google Books.
- ^ Virchow, Rudolf (1879). Gesammelte Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiete der öffentlichen Medicin und der Seuchenlehre. p. 45. OL 25761210M.
- ^ Copernicus, Nicolaus (2016). "Notes". In Czartoryski, Pawel (ed.). Collected Works. Translated by Rosen, E. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 279. ISBN 9781349017799.
- ^ a b Repcheck, Jack (2007). Copernicus' Secret. Simon & Schuster. pp. np. ISBN 9781416553564.
- ^ Vučević, Danijela (2023). "Nicolaus Copernicus and medicine – 550th anniversary of the birth and 480th anniversary of the death of a scientist who turned the view of the world upside down". Srpski arhiv za celokupno lekarstvo. 152 (1–2): 103–109. ISSN 0370-8179.
- ^ a b c Stallings, Douglas (2007). Fodor's Poland. p. 177. ISBN 9781400017515.
- ^ Kopiczko, Andrzej (2011). "Charitable Initiatives of Warmia's Clergy in the 19th Century". Echa Przeszłości (XII). ISSN 1509-9873.
- ^ Krzeptowska-Moszkowicz, Izabela (2022). "Urban Sensory Gardens with Aromatic Herbs in the Light of Climate Change: Therapeutic Potential and Memory-Dependent Smell Impact on Human Wellbeing". Land. 11 (5): 760. ISSN 2073-445X.