St. George's Hospital

St. George's Hospital was a hospital in Königsberg that existed from 1329 to 1945. At various times, it served as a leprosarium, a monastery for the elderly, and a hospital with guardianship functions. The former hospital building now houses the Kaliningrad Marine Fisheries College.

St. George's Hospital was founded on September 3, 1329, as a leprosarium by order of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Werner von Orseln. The first location of the hospital was the outer suburb of Altstadt, one of the constituent cities of the future Königsberg. The hospital belonged to the city of Altstadt but was located in the suburb of Kneiphof — Vorstadt — on its far outskirts.

On April 13, 1455, the rebellious Kneiphof residents burned down Vorstadt along with the hospital, and by the act of capitulation on July 14, they were exempted from rebuilding it.

In 1531, during the Reformation (a socio-political movement against feudalism in Western Europe in the 16th century, expressed as a religious struggle against the Catholic Church and papal authority), carried out by the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Order and the first Duke of Prussia, Albrecht of Hohenzollern (Albrecht von Brandenburg-Ansbach), the leprosarium was abolished and transformed into a shelter-monastery for elderly townspeople because the number of lepers in Königsberg had significantly decreased compared to earlier times.

St. George's Hospital was founded as a leprosarium by the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Werner von Orseln, in 1329. The first hospital building was located in the suburb of Altstadt. In 1531, the leprosarium was abolished, and the hospital became a shelter-monastery for the elderly. During these years, it was relocated south of Kneiphof to an area later named Vorstadt.

The monastery buildings were repeatedly destroyed by fire, such as in 1433, 1520 (by Polish troops), and 1550 (when 100 houses in Vorstadt, including the hospital, burned down). Over time, the hospital's purpose changed from a monastery for the elderly to a medical institution and guardianship body. St. George's Hospital had a school where Immanuel Kant studied from 1730 to 1732. The hospital burned again in 1775 (restored only in 1786) and in 1811, but after each fire, the buildings were rebuilt.

By the end of the 19th century, the numerous small houses that made up the hospital no longer met technical and medical requirements. Therefore, a new building was designed. The project was created by the city master builder Worms. In his design, Worms abandoned the construction of a monastery church, which had been restored after each previous fire.

In 1894, construction began on the hospital complex at Turnerstraße 4 (now Morekhodnaya Street) in the Neo-Gothic style, and in 1897 it was officially opened. After completion, St. George's Hospital became the largest monastic building in Königsberg. The building, made of red clinker brick in the Neo-Gothic style, was ceremoniously opened in 1897.

The hospital complex consisted of several buildings connected in a regular quadrangle. The building was constructed of red clinker brick in the Neo-Gothic style.

The three-story front facade of the main hospital building had a corner shape with two tall pointed towers. Two side wings adjoined it at right angles. The first floor was decorated with a pointed decorative Gothic entrance portal with a wimperg (a tall pointed decorative gable crowning portals and window openings of Gothic buildings).

In its central part was a Gothic inscription: “St. Georgs-Hospital.” Next was a gallery of six arched windows with wrought iron medallions. The third floor was crowned by a beautiful stepped Gothic gable with rosettes (round windows) arranged in a pyramid shape. On either side were two rectangular bay windows up to the height of the third floor, topped by two pointed towers with wrought iron spherical spires.

On both sides of the central part of the front facade were side wings. Each had two slightly protruding risalits. Their roofs were crowned by four triangular gables, each topped with three small pointed turrets with counter-forts. Along the perimeter of the three floors of the side wings were two galleries of 12 and 13 arched window openings of varying widths with wrought iron medallions between them.

The building had a massive hipped roof covered with glazed turquoise tiles, with mansard rooms and separate rectangular brick chimneys.

The massive interior vaults of the building were framed by pointed arches in the form of ribs (projecting ribs of Gothic ribbed cross vaults) with rosettes in the center. Inside the hospital were six massive staircases providing access to all floors, where numerous residential and service rooms were located.

During the bombing of Königsberg by British aviation in August 1944 and the Soviet assault on the city in April 1945, the hospital building sustained serious damage.

The roof was completely burned out, and its Gothic gables and front facade were damaged. Many load-bearing structures and interior rooms were also damaged.

In the 1950s, during the restoration of the former hospital building, the Gothic gables permanently disappeared from the front facade (for unknown reasons, they were not restored), although their condition was still quite good. However, the interior floors were restored, and a new gentle slate roof was installed.

The interior layout of the building also changed: instead of six authentic staircases, only four were restored, and the residential rooms were converted into classrooms. Only two pointed towers with ornate spires still remind us of the former grandeur of this beautiful Königsberg building.

In 1952, the former St. George's Hospital became home to the Kaliningrad Secondary Maritime School, later reorganized into the Kaliningrad Marine Fisheries College. Every year, the school's cadets undertook their first sailing practice with the Baltic training ship squadron, which was based in Riga (Latvia).

Legends and anecdotes were told about cadets of both maritime schools — secondary and higher. For example: two cadets stand at a bus stop — one from the KVVMU (Frunze) and one from the maritime school. A little boy approaches and says, "Uncle, give me a candy!" The Frunze cadet sighs and replies, "I wish someone would give me one." The maritime school cadet rummages through his pockets, finds a candy, and gives it: "Here, kid. Mine are probably running around somewhere like this..."

In the 1980s, traditional ceremonial marches of cadets with banners and orchestras, as well as the changing of the daily guard, passed by the former St. George's Hospital building.

Opposite the hospital at Turnerstraße 4 (now Morekhodnaya Street) were two German schools: the Selke School (Selkeschule) and the Tribukeit School (Tribukeitschule).

Both schools were elongated three-story buildings in the Neo-Gothic style with pointed gables and arched windows. In Soviet times, a fourth mansard floor was added to the former Selke School building in place of the hipped roof.

Currently, both buildings are used as facilities of the Kaliningrad Marine Fisheries College.

Today, the hospital building and the two adjacent former schools house the Kaliningrad Marine Fisheries College.

Sources:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Госпиталь_Святого_Георга

https://www.prussia39.ru/sight/index.php?sid=1232

https://ivanskobey.livejournal.com/13674.html