THE EXHIBITION “THE LOST HOSPITALS OF BUCHAREST” AT FILANTROPIA HOSPITAL

Starting with August 3rd 2016, the exhibition “The lost hospitals of Bucharest” organised by the Physicians’ College Society of Bucharest along with the Bucharest Municipality Museum can be visited in the Filantropia Hospital courtyard, and will remain open for the public until October 30th 2016. The hospital is located at No. 11 Ion Mihalache Boulevard and was the first modern hospital in Romania and the oldest obstetrics and gynaecology clinic in the country, founded in 1813.

“The lost hospitals of Bucharest” offers the public an overview of hospitals’ activity in Bucharest, and how it was interrupted or desisted by earthquakes, WWII bombings, demolitions and restructurings of the Communist period, or by lack of finances and post-decembrist retrocession lawsuits.

From the 18th century to the present day, Bucharest hospitals have played a decisive role in the city’s development, meeting the needs of the public. Pantelimon Hospital was built to manage epidemics of plague and typhoid fever that had struck the citizens. The Brancovenian Hospital emerged as a hospital for the needy, “for the consolation of those in need and lacking”. Mărcuța Hospital was built to offer the “mad” medical treatment, “with kindness and patience”, and the first Emergency Hospital was created to ensure aid at anytime and to whoever required it, being part of the Salvarea Society.

Part of the Capital’s first hospitals came a long way, spanning centuries and undergoing modernisation and successive developments. Others however did not make it, and their loss meant that many remarkable contributions to the modernisation of medicine in Romania were forgotten, along with the architecturally valuable buildings that had hosted their activity, torn down to make way for other buildings in demand. Others were left in ruin, degrading, like sickened incurable creatures.

Highly acclaimed and respected figures such as Psychiatrist Alexandru Suțu, brothers Mina and Nicolae Minovici, or Academy Member Professor Dr. Nicolae Cajal, tied their destinies to these institutions, contributing to their research and care activity and bringing them up to European standards at the time. Many of these lost hospitals had been founded by important historical figures, such as Safta Brâncoveanu, Grigore the 2nd Ghica, or Alexandru Moruzi.

We invite you to rediscover forgotten pages of the Capital’s history and of Romanian medicine, re-establishing the memory of figures and institutions that had responsibly taken care of their patients, for a longer, healthier life.

The exhibition was initially open in the Suțu Palace Courtyard, between March 30th and August 1st 2016.