From the Poorhouse to the New Ideal: Allgemeines Krankenhaus, Vienna 9 District

From 1783 to 1785, the poorhouse in Vienna's Alservorstadt became the general hospital. Shown here in a rare illustration of its rear façade, it was enormous by the standards of the time and could accommodate more than 1,200 patients. In the center of the background is the round building for the Narrenturm with 139 cells. Built in 1784, it is considered to be the first centralized "insane asylum" in the German-speaking world. The round-tower architecture originates from the surveillance concept of viewing as many cells as possible from a central location. Since 1971, it has housed the pathological-anatomical collection of the Vienna university hospital, which has been open to the public as a museum since 1993.

Vienna 9, General Hospital, drawing, ca. 1800, artist unknown; source: © Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, http://www.bildarchivaustria.at/Pages/ImageDetail.aspx?p_iBildID=10312173.