
Hospital of the Holy Spirit, Warsaw

The Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Warsaw (Szpital Świętego Ducha w Warszawie) was a hospital originally built in 1442, at the church of St. Martin's at Piwna Street in Warsaw's Old Town. It was founded by Anna Fiodorówna (a princess of the Duchy of Masovia) as a shelter for the poor. After a number of moves, it stayed at Elektoralna Street.
History.
The building at 12 Elektoralna Street was built between 1859 and 1861 according to a neo-Renaissance design by Józef Orlowski. The site was a former cart and carriage factory. It was the first hospital in Warsaw with free-standing pavilions. From 1861 until World War II, it was one of the most modern hospitals in the city. Bombed on 25 September 1939, it was again damaged later during the Warsaw Uprising.
Before the war, the medical clinic was run by Vilém Dušan Lambl with Samuel Goldflam as his assistant. In 1881, the head of the chemical-bacteriological laboratory was Leon Nencki.
The hospital repeatedly moved: first at Piwna Street, then Przyrynku, Konwiktorska Street, Elektoralna and in 1940 to Wola Hospital. In 1941, the two hospitals were transferred to buildings of the Jewish community. The abandoned buildings were used as a German military hospital. In 1946, the buildings was occupied again by the Hospital of the Holy Spirit. In 1957, the name was changed to City Hospital No. 1.
In 1953, the building at Elektoralna Street was rebuilt for cultural purposes. First, occupied by trade unions, it later housed the Warsaw Cultural Centre (Warszawski Ośrodek Kultury). It now houses: