St. Johanns Spital:
Landeskrankenhaus Salzburg (Hospital)

The Landeskrankenhaus or St.-Johanns-Spital is the general hospital of the city of Salzburg. You will find it in the district of Mülln, on the northern outskirts of the Altstadt (Old Town). The Landeskrankenhaus is part of the Salzburger Landeskliniken (SALK), a network of hospitals maintained by the state of Salzburg, and the main educational hospital for the private medical university "Paracelsus" (PMU).

The modern hospital has its origins in the Baroque age; this article will deal primarily with the old core of the facility and treat it as a sightseeing attraction, medical and contemporary aspects are covered only marginally. Note that there is a separate article on the hospital′s Baroque church, the Krankenhauskirche St. Johannes.

Foundation of the Landeskrankenhaus

The hospital was founded and endowed by Prince Archbishop Ernst von Thun und Hohenstein around 1700. The Prince Archbishop considered charitable activities as very important and used his private fortune for financing the construction of the facility, for creating and endowment for the salaries of the staff and an annual allowance. Ernst von Thun und Hohenstein is still fondly remembered for this in Salzburg.

The construction of the hospital was done on the foundations of a previously existing palace, the Grimmingschloss or Schloss Müllegg. It was completed and opened in 1704. The architect in charge was Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, who also built churches like the Dreifaltigkeitskirche, the Kollegienkirche and the Markuskirche. The new hospital recycled an old hospital name from Salzburg, since a previously existing home for the sick next to the Erhardskirche in Nonntal was also called Johannsspital.

The facility existed of essentially three sections, which one can still clearly discriminate from outside: A wing for men, a wing for women and a church in between. In 1754, a pharmacy was opened that sold its goods to the general public - a rather radical policy at a time when generally only wealthy people could afford medical treatment and pharmacies generally catered to merchants, nobility and high-ranking clergy.

Gradual Modernisation of the Landeskrankenhaus

In 1796, the St.-Johanns-Spital separated surgery from general medicine. In the second half of the 19th century, the facility was modernised and extended; in addition to the Baroque main building, there was a facility built for children (1890ish) and one for pregnant women (1900ish).

However, it wasn′t until after WWII that the St. Johanns-Spital was developed into a state-of-the-art hospital with the many buildings you can see today. This period of extension continued until 2001, when the Chirurgie West was opened - one of Austria′s most modern surgical facilities. In 2004, the hospital became a "Universitätsklinikum" (university hospital) when the private medical university Paracelsus was opened; in 2009, the hospital got its own regional train link.

The Landeskrankenhaus in figures: About 1,800 beds where 48,000 patients are treated every year after being hospitalised; the number of non-hospitalised patients that are treated via the "Ambulanzen" exceeds this number by far. There are 19 different departments within the hospital and 2,300 births in an average year.

Hidden Treasures of Salzburg

Links

http://www.salk.at/
Official Website of the Landeskrankenhaus

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universit%C3%A4tskliniken_Salzburg
German Wikipedia on the Landeskrankenhaus Salzburg

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