The Franciscan Monastery and the Old Hospitals


       We leave the "Lenau" High School, placed at the intersection of
   Gheorghe Lazar and E. Ungureanu Streets, and head towards Piata
   Libertatii, or the Freedom s Square, and on the Ungureanu
   Street, at number 1, we find an apparently of no importance
   building, but of big historical value. It s the building of the
   former Franciscan monastery, built between 1716-1736, the
   existence of the monks being signaled since the XVI century.
   This modest building had a very agitated past, being known the
   fact that during the Turks occupation it used to be a mosque
   here, until 1789, then both buildings were under Piaristic order
   and a school opened. In 1909, the monastery was given to the
   City administration which opened a conservatory. The building
   houses today the Arts School. Besides the commemorative placard,
   on the other side of the entrance, there is another marble
   placard placed in the memory of a hero of the December 1989
   Revolution, the teacher Ladislau Czizmarik, one of the activists
   of choral societies from Timisoara, born in March 12, 1939, and
   deceased in December 17, 1989.

       The Civic Hospital on the Marasesti Street [17], where today
   there are the dermatology and oncology sections, dates from the
   Turk occupation. During those times it had only one story and
   was probably housing the harem. It was also the begler-beg
   residence. This hospital was active since 1745 [18] as it can be
   seen from a patient list. The documentary proof dates from
   1751. This Civic Hospital existed 24 years before the Vienna
   Universal Hospital ("Allgemeines Krankenhaus") and 35 years
   before the "Saint Rochus" Hospital from Budapest. In 1757
   another story was added to the building.

       Other documents do not mention the building since the Turk
   occupation. It is said that the Mayor, Peter Solderer (acting
   between 1722-1742) backed the idea of building a civic hospital
   under the City administration. The data sources also say there
   is no exact date for the beginning of the construction, probably
   around the year 1745, the dates being different also regarding
   the opening, between 1751 and 1757. From its very start, the
   hospital was dedicated to its habitants, foreigners, and the
   poor, treated free of charge. In 1789, there were also 10
   orphans in the hospital. On the Marasesti street there is
   another hospital. It s the garrison's hospital, known today as
   the Military Hospital.

       Close to the hospitals there is the synagogue, also deserving
   full attention. Built between 1863 and 1865, after the design of
   the Viennese architect Igatz Schumann, in predominantly Moorish
   style, it has ornaments influenced by the Byzantine and Roman
   styles. The first synagogue was here since 1760.
   If we go on our way on the Marasesti Street, at the intersection
   of Brediceanu Street, we make a left and we arrive at the
   Ophthalmology Hospital, where long ago it used to be the
   Misericordian Hospital (known under the name "La Popii Negri",
   or "At the Black Priests") [19]. The Saint Nepomuk brotherhood
   built this hospital in 1737; it was the first hospital and the
   first pharmacy in this region.  On the day when the first brick
   was laid on the foundation (1735), the crowd, under the bishop
   leadership, marched starting from the Franciscan church towards
   the Statue of Saint Nepomuk in front of the Old City Hall, and
   from here to the place where the hospital had to be built,
   laying a placard from which it is clear that the whole thing was
   an act of charity. The building was finished in 1737, the
   Nepomuk brothers deciding to give it to the order of
   Misericordian brothers; six brothers of this order came to
   Timisoara from a German province, and their vicar, Paulinus
   Temel took the leadership of the hospital and the patients
   care. During the plague epidemic (1738-1739) the brothers of the
   order took care of the patients heroically and with abnegation,
   four of them falling victims to this unforgiving malady from
   those times. The Misericordian brothers started to build, in
   1748, their own church on the place of the house chapel and
   finished it in 1753.  After the fire from July 6-7, 1849, the
   hospital and the church were restored to their actual shape.
   Inside the church s very beautiful restored interior there is
   the oldest organ from Timisoara and the entire Banat. This
   edifice is nowadays at the service of Greek Catholic believers.
   Remainders of the wall fortifications and a restaurant can be
   seen across from the entrance of the Ophthalmology Hospital near
   the "Timisoara 700" Square.  In front of the old walls  there is
   a summer garden. Not far from the "Timisoara 700" Square, on the
   Gheorghe Lazar Street at number 10-12, near the Botanical
   Garden, is rising a modern building with several stories.

       This is the Adam-Muller-Guttenbrunn House - a gift of Germany,
   of the Organization of Helping of the Schvabs from Banat and of
   the Organization of the Schvabs from Germany, given to their
   compatriots remained in the homeland.  The building houses a
   nursing home and a  cultural center. The design was accomplished
   by the S.C. IPROTIM from Timisoara under the leadership of the
   architect Nicolae Busila [20].