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

already record Julianna Semmelweis and in 1819 and 1821 the would-be physician Ignác Semmelweis, reputed all over the world. (In 1821 he is entered with his two younger brothers, János and Ágoston). At the conscriptions the actual age of the persons had been asked and the date of birth was calculated accordingly which often caused divergencies. The number of tenants also points to the fact that during the reconstructions after the great fire the house was enlarged and instead of the earlier 23, the number of inhabitants was 38. Beside the Semmelweis family, the family of the owner too, lived in the Meinđ house, and furthermore in subsequent years the Pfisterer, Tÿrñauer and Kényesi families and single people like Benedek Virág the outstanding priest writer of the age who stayed there in 1815, and of course a great number of servants. Benedek Virág later moved to the opposite side of the street to Apród Street 10. In June 1823 József Semmelweis informed his customers that his store moved to his own house which he had bought from Demeter Bandy in 1822. The contemporary advertisement reads as follows

: "I have the honour to inform you that the grocery store I have run for 17 years (Material, Spezerey und Farbwaren) has been moved a house of my own, opposite to the former one. I ask for the further kind support of my honoured customersHe often advertised the products of his store "To the White Elephant": leaf-tobacco in 1813, old wine from Mór and Csóka and eau de Cologne named "3 Lilies" in 1830. He played an active role in the life of the district which is well demonstrated by his position among the town citizens, his advertisments of orders, his role as witness at wills and his relations to rich Greek families. The above records lead us to the conclusion that the store of József Semmelweis was run in the Meindl-house between 1806 and 1823 (proved also by the registers of conscriptions) which also implies the fact that the family actually lived in this house. The house owned by Semmelweis, on the other side of the street had been previously owned by the famous Greek Paziazi family. Later it passed into the hands of Demeter Bandy of Macédonian origin (18081822). Upstairs there were seven rooms, downstairs three business premises. When the store moved into this house, the family moved over, too. In the registers of later date (1827, 1830) the large Semmelweis family was entered under this address, Ignác Semmelweis included. The six servants worked in the store and household

: assistants (sodalis), an apprentice (tyro), and a maid (ancilla). THE BIRTH OF A PLACE OF PILGRIMAGE The cultivation of Semmelweis's memory which was started at the turn of the century, was stimulated by the event of bringing back Semmelweis's earthly remains from Vienna to Hungary. Strangely enough it was then on the occasion