Ion C. Brătianu Former Hospital

ION C. BRĂTIANU FORMER HOSPITAL The first hospital in the city of Buzău was established in 1792, being, at the time, the third in Muntenia, after those in Bucharest (Coltea – 1702 and Pantelimon – 1750). In 1870, the County Hospital was established, moved two years later to Persescu houses. On 27th June 1888, he received the donation of Eftimie Tomaide, and in 1890 the donation of Costache Ciochinescu, from the revenues of Blajani estate, for the maintenance of two beds, at the head of which this should be mentioned on a plaque and a portrait of the donor, made by painter Gheorghe Tattarescu. In 1895, Buzău Prefecture began the construction of the new premises of the County Hospital, inaugurated on 14th April 1896 and named „Ion C. Brătianu” Hospital, with 30 beds. When Romania entered the War of National Integration (1916-1919) it functioned as a military hospital, being returned to the city on 4th June 1920 for „surgical diseases, eye diseases and births.” A new operating room was inaugurated on 6th June 1924, bearing the name of magistrate C.A. Papadopol, the one who had this initiative and was in charge of modernizing the hospital (electric lighting, operating tables and sterilization equipment). In 1935 the hospital was renovated and a floor was built in the central part of the building, steam heating was also installed. In 1936, another pavilion was built for the radiology and electrotherapy service, established in 1929 by the same C.A. Papadopol. During the Second World War, following a Soviet air raid, on 3rd July 1941, a fire bomb fell in the courtyard of Brătianu Surgical Hospital, without exploding. Since 1973, after the inauguration of the current County Hospital on the northern edge of Crâng Forest, the old building on Nicolae Balcescu Boulevard took over several sections of it, continuing its activity until the early 2000s. After a period of abandonment, in which the state of decay of the building became visible and worrying, the public authorities, convinced of the outstanding historical value of the building and its special cultural potential, took the initiative to restore this authentic historical objective and to transform it into a museum center, needed by Buzău. The restoration, conservation and modernization project was drawn up by architect Georgeta Gabrea, and started in 2019, at the initiative of Buzău County Council, within the Regional Operational Program 2014-2020, co-financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund. The restoration of the building was completed in August 2022, to be managed by Buzău County Museum, for organizing specific exhibitions and activities. The building is included in the List of Historical Monuments (ia BZ-II-m-B-2957)