General Hospital (Všeobecná nemocnice), Surgical Pavilion, Facilities Pavilion

   
Shortly after the town was founded, Jihlava had two hospitals. The first was named after St. Elizabeth (sv. Alžběta) and was located on the north side of the town outside the walls. It was run by a foundation that owned fields, ponds, three farmsteads, and a sheepfold. In addition, it received donations from the burghers or grain from the mill below Jánský Hill (Jánský vrch). In the 15th century, the hospital ceased to exist, and after 1470, a new St. Elizabeth Hospital (Špitál sv. Alžběty) with a chapel was established. It was located on the site of what is now Komenský House no. 27–29, where it operated until 1827. On the northern slope, further away from the city walls, in the area between Havlíčkova and Třebízského Streets, was the St. George Hospital(Siechhaus), which served as a leprosariumfor terminally ill patients until 1769. From 1707, a small infirmary for patients with suspected infectious diseases was located at the Long Wall (Dlouhá stěna) in the place of a former piano factory. Later, a larger infirmary was built, called the Hospital at St. Lazarus(Nemocnice u sv. Lazara) at the Koňský Pond (Koňský rybník) at Křižíkova no. 21 and no. 23, which opened its doors in 1753.

From 1753–1754, a military infirmary was built on Věžní Street above the moat. As the size of the infirmary was soon insufficient for the army, a new military hospital was built from 1785–1789 by order of Emperor Joseph II on Tolstého Street (now the Secondary Police School of the Ministry of the Interior – Vyšší policejní škola Ministerstva vnitra) and in place of the military infirmary, the civilian Municipal Hospital at St. Lazarus (Městská nemocnice u sv. Lazara)was opened, which was operated by the City Council. However, the capacity of the beds became insufficient over time, and in the 1930s, it was decided to build a new modern institution. Václav Dobřenský, a farm owner in Plandry, donated five half acres adjacent to the military hospital to the town for this purpose. The City Council approved the construction, and in 1850, the General Hospital(Všeobecná nemocnice) was consecrated. The two-storey building (plot no. 3010) with a rectangular floor plan was located in an English-style parkland. The decorative central avant-corps was topped with a gable with the inscription Allgemeines Krankenhaus. The administrator oversaw administrative matters and the institutional fund, and the directors were appointed from among the senior consultants, who would establish a diagnosis, decide on treatment, and also introduce new methods and ideas for modernisation. Under DrAnton Nietsch, for example, plans were made for the construction of a modern surgical pavilion. The multi-storey building (plot no. 3008), built in 1902, had a basement. As the basement was elevated, the space could be directly illuminated and housed the necessary facilities and an autopsy room with a morgue, which were accessed through the rear wing. The axially symmetrical south-east frontage with the main entrance was divided by three shallow avant-corps and a number of high windows allowing good ventilation. The continuous cornices on the façade visually separated the façade bossage of the ground floor from the upper floor, which was topped with a decorated roof cornice. Inside, in addition to patient rooms and medical facilities, there was a waiting room, a sterilisation room, a preparation room with instruments, and two operating theatres. The entire pavilion had a central heating system.

Two years later, a small ophthalmology department with eighteen beds was built, where DrBondi, a former assistant at the eye clinic in Vienna, worked and performed surgery. In 1905, the hospital was connected to the electricity grid, which was of great importance for the commissioning of an X-ray machine and the operation of the operating theatres. Only gas lighting had been used until then.

During the First World War, single-storey buildings with a wooden construction were temporarily built in the north-western part of the premises as a military infirmary and they were later used by various wards, as required by the hospital.

After the war, the hospital operation was affected by national disagreements between the German and Czech population. In 1924, a young Czech doctor, Vítězslav Horn (1893–1965), assistant at the 1st Surgical Clinic in Brno, was appointed head of the surgical department and director of the hospital, and thus a new era of the General Hospital began. MUDrHorn had plans drawn up for the reconstruction of the entire premises so that both the building and equipment would meet the requirements of modern medicine. According to the architectural design created by the Prague architect Karel Roštík, a modern Surgical Pavilion with an Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department was built in 1925–1928 (plot no. 3006). Roštík designed a monolithic reinforced concrete skeleton with brick lining for the new pavilion. The architect divided the building into a six-storey centre section with two four-storey wings. The centre section has an anterior, well-lit rear part which houses the operating theatres. The building decreases in volume on the upper floors, which creates interesting terraces in the rear. The interior furnishings and equipment were entrusted to the Brno architect Bohumír František Antonín Čermák.

Horn's modernisation plan also included the adaptation of the World War I wooden military buildings into an infectious diseases and dermatology ward (today the Transport Department of Jihlava City Hall), the establishment of a separate Internal Medicine Department (in the General Hospital's oldest building), and the adaptation of the administrative building (plot no. 3009, now the Brno Regional Public Prosecutor's Office – Krajské státní zastupitelství Brno). The Ophthalmology and Radiology Departments, as well as the hospital library, moved to the site of the old Surgical Pavilion, and the number of doctors and nurses increased. At the same time, negotiations began on the construction of an outbuilding in 1936.

During the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, power in the town passed into the hands of the government commissioner DrEngelmann, who set out to re-Germanise the hospital. The Czech department heads were replaced with Germans. MUDrHorn was suspended as director and head of the surgical department. Two months later, he was arrested and spent the war in a concentration camp. He served as director again between 1945 and 1948.

In 1941, Mr Pokorný's villa with a printing house was bought, which then served as the paediatric ward from 1945 (now the State District Archive – Státní okresní archiv). A year later, a facilities building was completed according to an earlier design by the Brno architect Bohuslav Fuchs. It is considered one of the most advanced examples of functionalist architecture and its modern equipment greatly improved the efficiency and cost of the hospital's operation. There was a central boiler house with a skylight, a chimney, storage rooms located in the side wing, as well as sheds, stables, and barns. It was possible to access them from the warehouse through the arcade, where Fuchs incorporated a three-storey flat with an office. The flat could also be accessed by an outdoor spiral staircase, a typical element of Fuchs' work. Vehicles could enter the courtyard through the arcade. The main wing offered space for a catering kitchen and a modern laundry room equipped with large washing machines and spin-dryers. They were connected to the Surgical Pavilion by a covered ramp, which was used to transport food from the kitchen directly to the ward.

At the same time, the conversion of the Infectious Diseases Pavilion into an ENT department was completed, lodgings for nurses were built, and the adaptation of the X-ray department was completed. After 1948, many other specialised departments were established.

The hospital was in use until 2003. The individual wards were gradually relocated to the new hospital. In 2004, the Facilities Pavilion was proposed as a cultural monument, but it was rejected by the Ministry of Culture. Subsequently, the building lost its covered walkway to make way for the new District Public Prosecutor's Office (Okresní státní zastupitelství). Later, the entire facilities complex was pulled down. Today, there is a car park, which belongs to the university library. The Surgical Pavilion premises are currently used by the Regional Court in Jihlava and together with the District Public Prosecutor's Office building form a new judicial complex. The construction was carried out by the Brno company PROJECT BUILDING, with Radomír Putna as the lead architect. In 2007, the project was awarded a certificate of merit in the regional Building of the Highlands (Stavba Vysočiny) competition.

MP
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