The topography of the hospital-poorhouse at St Barbara's church/chapel in Stara Częstochowa at the turn of the 19th century

Abstract

The main aim of the article is to reconstruct the topography of St Barbara’s hospital-poor-house in Stara Częstochowa at the turn of the 19th c. The data following from the documentation of geodetic and cartographic surveying made by Jan Bernhard in the 1820s have been verifi ed and supplemented with information from registers, visitation reports and archeological research. Further valuable data were found in testaments of Częstochowa burghers, published by Dariusz Złotkowski. The article includes new fi ndings about the topography of the hospital’s buildings and land, and about organizational changes in this institution in the relevant period. St Barbara’s hospital-poorhouse was located in the northern part of Old Częstochowa, outside the high-density housing area, at the exit of the main streets towards the Kule suburb and the Warsaw and Działoszyn road. The hospital was built on a plot at Nadrzeczna Street, with the cadaster number 304, later renumbered 340. The hospital building was a rather small old-type wooden structure with a single room and a hallway, which could accommodate fi ve people. The hospital building ceased to exist in 1809 year.