The Death/Mutes Institute and the House for the Blinds


      Taking the tram, number 6, 7 or 8, and going on the Gheorghe
   Doja Street towards Josefin, we see, on the right hand the Doja
   Park, and, on the left, the Death/Mutes Institute. Before giving
   details concerning this edifice, we have to mention the Chapel
   Rozalia.
   The citizens of Timisoara built a chapel in 1739, in gratitude,
   and content, at the end of the plague epidemic. It was distroyed
   by the bombardments from 1849, but was restored. It was moved
   from its original place in 1926, and was demolished in 1963.
   The chapel was situated on the north side of the Doja Park, near
   the Research Center of the Academy, close to the Orthopedic
   Hospital.
      The Death/Mutes Institute, on the Doja Street number 16, is a
   building raised between 1894 and 1987, after the plans of the
   architect Leopold Loffler; the financing were covered by an
   inheritance left by the bishop Alexander Bonnaz (deceased in
   1889) and some help from the government. Another story was added
   between 1901 and 1902; the dorm was built in 1901; another story
   was added to the dorm building in 1912. Karl Schaffer founded
   the school for death and mutes in 1885; it operated at the
   beginning in the building of the communal school from Josefin;
   the school operated in the actual building starting with the
   school year 1897/1898 [46].
      The Blind's Institute is another humanitarian and educational
   institution from Elisabetin that has to be mentioned here.  A
   division of the association for help of the blinds was created
   in Timisoara in 1904; Anton Sailer initiated the creation of a
   foundation which rented a house to organize a shop for the
   blinds. On March 25, 1905, in a house on the actual Odobescu
   Street, took place the inauguration of the institution under the
   leadership of the director Karl Schaffer. In 1906, the
   Institution received half of its land, about half hectare, to
   produce willow goods. Wilhem Muhle, the well-known gardener,
   paid the rent for a period of ten years, although the subsidies
   were coming also from the government. In 1908, a house was
   bought, on the actual Independentei Street, at number 123, with
   the Sailer Foundation s money; a shop opened to train the blinds
   to manufacture willow baskets, mats, and chairs. In 1913, the
   administration of the town, under the pressure from the
   Foundation, decided to build a nursing home for the blinds, near
   the Children s Orphanage, but the first World War stopped this
   project. In 1917, the Prochaska family donated their property
   from the zone Vineyards (Vii), approximately 2.5 hectares,
   together with the existing buildings; they also cared for
   invalids [47].

      Let s go on, and look, on the right, at the building of the
   school district edifice, built in 1904. A dorm was operated in
   this building, many years, for the teachers  children enrolled
   into a middle or professional school from Timisoara.
   At the end of Doja Street, we are in the Josefin district. A
   statue of Saint Mary, raised during the last century, in the
   60s, used to be at the end of Doja Street. Today, on the same
   place, there is a monument with a statue of Saint Mary.  The
   place was known as the "The Scaffold of Doja" or "The Iron
   Throne of Doja". Today, in Timisoara, this place is simply
   called "Maria", after the name of the statue of Saint Mary.  The
   actual monument was raised in 1906 on a square. It is supposed
   that Gheorghe Doja, the leader of the peasants rebelled in 1514,
   together with his brother Gregor, and another group of peasants,
   were executed on this place. The monument, of an important
   artistic value, is composed of a canopy seated on six Roman
   pillars; the statue of Saint Mary, sculptured in marble from
   Carrara, rests under the canopy.