St. Joseph's Hospital (Aarhus)

History

In the late 1800s the first Catholic nuns since the Reformation arrived in Denmark. Initially just a few members of the Sisters of St. Joseph who settled in Copenhagen where, in 1875, they opened St. Joseph's Hospital. In Aarhus they established themselves in Ryesgade where they taught girls in the catholic St. Knud's School. It was however through care for the sick that the nuns primarily became known. In the first years the nuns treated patients of any faith in private homes. In December of 1900 the municipal doctor on behalf of the sisters requested support from the city council for a polio clinic with 20 beds for the poor and needy. The nuns worked fast and the clinic was opened shortly before the end of year 1900.

It was however not without controversy since a local protestant organization had also offered to open a polio clinic. The city council opted to support the catholic sisters and this offended the local protestant priests. The controversy never escalated beyond strongly-worded letters in Århus Stiftstidende but it became a public spectacle involving priests and public servants. It was also symptomatic of the relationship between catholics and protestants in the years after reformation. In spite of the controversy the sisters' polio clinic became a success and after a few years it moved to larger rooms in Østergade. This proved to be a temporary solution and in April 1902 the nuns asked to buy a parcel of land from the city. The negotiations took almost 2 years until February 1904 when a deal was reached for the sisters' to buy a property on Frederiksbjerg by Tietgens Plads. The hospital was built with patient rooms, laboratories, nurseries, operating rooms and a bath house. The upper floor was reserved as the sisters' living quarters while the polio clinic moved into the basement. The hospital was run jointly with municipal hospitals and management of St. Josephs Hospital was done in close cooperation with other hospitals in the city.

Initially St. Josephs Hospital was divided in departments with each one chief physician. The first departments were the departments of medicine, neurology, ears, orthopedic and tuberculosis. Over time the departments were moved out of St. Josephs and into the hospitals in the city. St. Josephs became a hospital for people with long-term illnesses or who needed rehabilitation. In addition the hospital had a large number of private care patients. In 1957 18 nuns trained as nurses lived in the hospital. Over time the number of nuns fell and in 1970 the Sisters of St. Joseph had to sell the building to Århus County. The last nuns were allowed to stay but in 1976 the last of them left. At the time St. Josephs had gotten the reputation as a hospice. The County continued to run St. Josephs but in 1986 the last 18 patients were moved to Marselisborg Hospital. The building continued to house facilities for a center for treatment of psycho-physical disorders and a center for treatment for hearing- and speech.

VUC Aarhus used the building as a school since 1987 until 2013 when Mogens de Linde bought it. in 2015 the games development company Kiloo bought the buildings and may make it their new headquarters.

Architecture

St. Josephs Hospital was designed by the architect Thorkel Møller in baroque revival style. The building is constructed of red brick in two and half floors capped with a mansard roof. The upper floor under the mansard was designed for the nuns with homes and prayer room. South of the main building lies a small garden, surrounded by a brick wall capped with glazed black bricks.