Antall József szerk.: Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 5. (Budapest, 1972)

Semmelweis's Birthplace - The Home of the Museum

SEMMELWEIS'S BIRTHPLACE -THE HOME OF THE MUSEUM O

nly a few monuments of the old Tabán have survived and one of them is the house in Apród Street 1-3, the birthplace of Ignác Semmelweis. It stands in a picturesque surrounding, at the southern foot of Castle Hill, underneath the reconstructed remnants of the medieval Royal Palace and castle wall. The townscape here will undergo further changes but its significance is already manifested. THE OLD TABÁN The atmosphere and romantic spell of the district often haunted the imagination of the late chroniclers evoking the past history of the house. They believed that it had harboured a medieval monastery, a Turkish harem or at least a tavern. Apród Street is in fact of medieval origin but its old houses had been destroyed in the fights when Buda was recaptured from the Turks in 1686. Its northern side where the Semmelweis house was erected had not been built up before the last decades of the 18th century. The lively and busy Rácz (i.e. Serb) Town spreading along the busy port began to flourish when the Danube's boat-bridge was completed (1767), the bridge-head of which reached exactly to Apród Street. Trade became even more lively due to the breaking through of the Southern wall of the castle and erecting the New Gate (later Ferdinand, Castle, or Tabán Gate) under the reign of Joseph II (1780-1790). The opening of the gate shortened the way of students, citizens and tradesmen to the Castle Hill (Fig.85-86.). The street leading up to the New Gate stretched next to the Semmelweis House along the Szarvas-ház (Deer House). It was called Palota Street (Palace Street) and this name was given later to the stretch of Apród Street which obtained its present name in 1879. Rich merchants acquired pieces of land and built houses along the busy street. The Semmelweis House in today's Apród.