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Draft:The buildings of the Chisinau Jewish Hospital

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Buildings of the Chisinau Jewish Hospital
General information
Architectural styleEclectic, Neoclassicism
AddressColumna Str. 150
Year(s) built1822-1830
Construction started1822
Construction stopped1830
Completed1830
Opened1830
Inaugurated1830
Renovated1892
OwnerRegional Government of the Bessarabia Governorate
Technical details
Floor count2
Design and construction
Architect(s)Luka Zaushkevich

The buildings of the Chisinau Jewish Hospital is a historic and artistic monument of high national importance, included in the Register of monuments of the Republic of Moldova with the nr. 241.[1] It dates to the end of the 19th century - beginning of the 20th century.

History

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Construction

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In november 1822, the Regional Government of the Bessarabia Governonate was presented that enough money was saved up by the Christian and Jewish communities to build a hospital just for jews out of two houses.[2] From the detailed report, written in march 1872 by Zhydovetsky, upper member of the Council of the Jewish Hospital from Chisinau, the fact that the hospital was founded in 1823 was discovered.[3]

19th Century

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In 1836, the hospital was reorganized for 30 beds and was subordinated to the department of Services of Public Assistance from Bessarabia on the basis of laws and reglementations which were applied to all civillian hospitals in the city.

In 1842, the military governor P. I. Fedorov had mentioned that, in Chisinau, at the Jewish Hospital, "the kitches was very small and with it's state of dilapidation it's unusable, recognizing the need of constructing a new building for the council and a small room for depositing comestible provisions".[4] The responsibility for the execution of this would be given to city architect Luka Zaushkevich. According to his plan, inside the hospital, there would be constructed a secondary building, in which the building would be localized, aswell as the rooms for the cook, bathroom, laundry room and shelter, estimated to 635 rubles and 5 silver kopecks.[5]

The need of construction at a closer distance of a new corpus of secondary buildings out of stone was recognized. Mikhail Vorontsov, in function of governor of Bessarabia and Novorossiya, presented this project to the examination of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which had granted him a sum of only 692 rubles and 42 silver kopecks from the General Directorate of Communications and Public Buildings for the construction of the buildings for secondary services, which the Chisinau Jewish Hospital had needed. At the same time, the state adviser, Perovski, had asked for the mentioned works to be realised through a contract or economically, with the reporting of the costs related to the amounts belonging to the hospital, and that during this they should save as much as possible.[6]

As already mentioned, since 1836, the hospital was under the Service of Public Assistance of Bessarabia and filled all the indications of the department. At the hospital, there was working an economist and two guards, chosen by the Jewish Community for 3 years. In 1862, according to count Stroganov, the jewish community had extended the building by 50 beds and 20 asylums. In 1865, at the presentation of the idea of the leader of the Bessarabia region, Antonovich, the minister of internal affairs had founded the Hospital's Council, chosen by the Jewish Community every 6 years, and the health center had existed both in the capital of reserve and finance sources from the Service of Public Assistance.[7]

Although, sadly, "the hospital was in the most miserable of states: the building and beds were full of insects, bedbugs and roaches. The bed linen and clothing were dirty and ripped, the patients wore dirty or ripped shirts, the sheets were changed only after two weeks, the patients lay on straw mattresses and hard pillows, beaten with coarse wool". But from November 25, 1865, when the Hospital Board entered into its rights, a pharmacy of its own was built in the Jewish health center, which was opened on the basis of donations from the board and citizens. The benefits of the pharmacy were obvious as it provided medicine to hospital patients and free home delivery to poor patients. After August 24, 1866, the Jewish Hospital Board drew attention to other problems related to the poor organization in the health center. Thus, doctors were allowed to "prescribe beef, bread, milk, wine, vodka" and other products to patients and convalescents in addition to the portioning norms; The hospital board decided not to limit the number of sheets and clothes allowed according to the registry. According to the statement, there were already two or three times as many things, “the wooden beds had completely disappeared, the mattresses were made of horsehair, the pillows were of down, and the hospital was completely cleared of bedbugs and cockroaches;". The Hospital Council, during more than 6 years of its existence, supplied the sick and needy at the asylum daily with tea with sugar, annually spending at least 491.4 kilograms of sugar and 27.2 kilograms of tea, donated by Council members and members of the Jewish community. In addition, compared to the portioning rules, in 1872, in accordance with the doctors' requests, the following were needed daily for recovery: Beef - from 6.8 to 9 kg; Milk - from 14 to 16 liters; Wine – 2.8–3.7 liters; Bread – 3.6–4.5 kg; Eggs – 10–20 pieces, and other items such as rice, semolina, which were also allowed to be issued by the Hospital Board.[8]

In early 1870, the Hospital Board sought to expand the hospital building for at least 100 patients, beginning the development of a building plan for the future hospital. In the structure of the hospital, several buildings located on a vast territory, in free order, pavilions were designed. In 1878, an infirmary was stationed in the hospital, which received many wounded in 1879. [7]

In the 80s there were 15 rooms with 120 beds, an asylum with 20 beds and a pharmacy, although the hospital's budget was actually quite poor. Often, of clinical antiseptics, there was almost nothing in the hospital, only carbolic acid. Patients often shared a bed for two. Due to the lack of space, urgent operations were performed directly on the patient's bed. [7]

In 1892, the main building with 2.5 floors was rebuilt.[9] In the National Archives of the Republic of Moldova there is the Project for the reconstruction of the main building of the Jewish Hospital in Chisinau, as well as the project for the building for contagious patients, developed in March 1892 by the government engineer C. Gasket and the government architect G. Lozinski, as well as the engineer Ginger and Dr. Blumenfeld. In the fall of 1898, their inauguration took place. The buildings were built gradually, from the 80s of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century.[10]

In 1897–1898, pavilions, shelters for the elderly and a building for patients with infectious diseases were built. In 1889–1890, an administrative building, a pharmacy and laboratory building were built. In 1887–1901, a two-story surgical pavilion appeared.[7]

By January 1, 1889, 117 patients were in the hospital, 1,527 came during the year, making a total of 1,644; recovered – 1374, died –140, mortality rate – 8.8%, average daily number of patients – 97, cost of maintaining one patient per day – 74.3 kopecks.

For his activities, the head doctor M. B Slutski (he led the hospital for more than 35 years, was elected a member of the City Duma, was a member of many administrative boards) was decorated with the royal orders of St. Stanislav, St. Anna and St. Vladimir, as well as two orders of Romania in the interbellum.[7]

20th Century

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During the Chisinau pogrom of 1903, the hospital run by M. Slutski became an assistance center for victims. In the same year, Carol Schmidt left the post of mayor on his own initiative, deeply disturbed by the Jewish pogrom in Chisinau, which shocked all the people of Europe.[7]

According to the address and information book of Chisinau from 1916, the Jewish hospital was located at the end of Nikolaevskaia Street, then Frunze Street, 150 (today - Columna Street). Reopened in the Soviet period, the hospital was considered one of the best in the city, consisting of 3 departments of the medical institute operated under it: surgery, general medicine, otorhinolaryngology. These departments were initially led by professors of the Leningrad Institute of Medicine, who settled in Moldova and were part of the composition of this institute after the war.[7]

Architecture

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The hospital's architecture is eclectic, with some neoclassical elements. The main façade has a symmetrical composition, with three Avant-corps, located in the center and symmetrical on both sides, finished with triangular pediments. In one of them is the entrance from the street. This was where the ambulatory, hospital lounges and doctors' apartments were located. The façade of the ground floor ends with horizontal upper boards. This is likely where the kitchen was located, as it is today. The architecture has some aspects of a modern style.[7] As of December 2024, the building is in a deplorable state.

Notes

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  1. ^ "List of Moldovan Monuments". Government of Moldova. 12 June 2022. Archived from the original on 12 June 2022. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  2. ^ ANRM, F. 6, inv. 2, d. 358
  3. ^ ANRM, F. 6, inv. 2, d. 358, f. 2 v.
  4. ^ ANRM, F. 3, inv. 2, d. 937, f. 1
  5. ^ ANRM, F. 3, inv. 2, d. 937, f. 2 v
  6. ^ ANRM, F. 3, inv. 2, d. 937, f. 9 v
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Ceastina, Alla. 302 Pages of Jewish History in Chisinau (PDF). p. 302-308.
  8. ^ ANRM, F. 78, inv. 1, d. 7, f. 223.
  9. ^ ANRM, F. 11, inv. 2, d. 91.
  10. ^ ANRM, F. 2, inv. 1, d. 7264.

Bibliography

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  • Chișinău. Encyclopedia. Chișinău: Redacția principală a Sovietului Moldovei. (encyclopedia, 1984. p. 573)
  • Hari I. Tot Chișinăul. Adresă și carte de referință pentru 1916 Chișinău, Printed by Viața basarabeană, 1916.
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