Heilig-Geist-Spital

Summary

The Heilig-Geist-Spital (English: Holy Spirit Hospital) in Nuremberg was the largest hospital in the former Free Imperial City of Nuremberg. It was used as a hospital and nursing home.

View of the Heilig-Geist-Spital from the west

Its chapel was also the depository of the Imperial Regalia, the crown jewels of the Holy Roman Empire, between 1424 and 1796. The regalia, among them the Holy Lance, were shown to believers once a year in a so-called Heiltumsweisung (worship show) on the fourteenth day after Good Friday. For coronations they were brought to Frankfurt Cathedral.

The hospital was partly built over the Pegnitz river.[1] It now serves as a restaurant and senior home.

Aerial view, with the hospital buildings extending along the Pegnitz river, and the Holy Ghost chapel to the left

History edit

The Heilig-Geist-Spital was built in 1339 by Konrad Gross to care for ill, elderly and poor people.[2]

References edit

  1. ^ "So finden Sie den Heilig-Geist-Saal (HeiGei) in der Nürnberger Altstadt" (PDF; 445 kB). www.hfm-nuernberg.de (in German).
  2. ^ Ulrich Knefelkamp: Über die Pflege und medizinische Behandlung von Kranken in Spitälern vom 14. bis 16. Jahrhundert. In: Michael Matheus (Hrsg.): Funktions- und Strukturwandel spätmittelalterlicher Hospitäler im europäischen Vergleich. Stuttgart 2005 (= Geschichtliche Landeskunde. Band 56), S. 175–194, hier: S. 187.