St. Nicholas Psychiatric Hospital

Categories / Medicine. Public Health/Hospitals and Clinics
ST. NICHOLAS PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL (126 Moika River Embankment). The predecessor of the hospital was the Temporary Clinic for the Insane of the Correctional Institute (1865) which was housed in the building of the prison (1840, the architect L.I. Charlemagne). In 1872 the prisoners were transferred to the city prison and the clinic was given a new name: Hospital Dedicated to St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker for Mental Patients (in honour of the church located on hospital grounds), simultaneously the department for mental patients in Obukhovsky Hospital was abolished. In 1884, it was transferred from the supervision of the Board of Social Care to the City Hospital Administration and was connected to the telephone network. Already in 1912 the question of its closure was raised on the grounds that the hospital did not meet the requirements of a medical institution. Under the Soviet government it became City Psychiatric Hospital No. 2. In 1993 it was given back the name of St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker, and major repairs were carried out in some departments. It is the clinical base for various medical institutes. The hospital has 1,080 beds. It has been known under the common name of “Pryazhka,” since the entrance to the hospital is located on the embankment of the Pryazhka River.

References: Головина Е. В. Городская больница св. Николая Чудотворца для душевнобольных в С.-Петербурге. СПб., 1887; Свистун С. Я. К истории психиатрической больницы св. Николая Чудотворца // Современная психиатрия: теория и практика. СПб., 2002. С. 5-18.

T. I. Grekova. Charlemagne Ludwig Iosifovich
Moika River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 126
Pryazhka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Головина Е. В. Городская больница св. Николая Чудотворца для душевнобольных в С.-Петербурге. СПб., 1887
Свистун С. Я. К истории психиатрической больницы св. Николая Чудотворца // Современная психиатрия: теория и практика. СПб., 2002 Obukhovskaya Hospital