The cornerstone of the Greek Catholic Church, built with the hospital, was laid in 1737, and was founded by the "Association of St. John of Nepomuk for the Worship of the Blessed Virgin", which was then entrusted to the monks of the Order of the Misericordians.
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The cornerstone of the Greek Catholic Church, built with the hospital, was laid in 1737, and was founded by the "Association of St. John of Nepomuk for the Worship of the Blessed Virgin." After the building was completed, the association, represented by Count Andreas Hamilton, entrusted it to the monks of the Order of Mercy. They were also popularly called "black popes" and cared for the sick, the elderly, and the suffering. The church, whose architects were Johann Lechner and Caspar Dissel, benefited in 1748 from a donation of 60,000 florins from Empress Maria Theresia. The money was donated to the church and the hospital. She was blessed and then given away to the cult in 1757 by Bishop Franz Anton Engl of Wagrain.
On the night of July 6-7, 1849, during the siege of Timisoara by Hungarian revolutionary troops, the church was hit by an artillery projectile, being largely destroyed. In 1851 the church was rebuilt in Baroque style. The oldest organ in Timişoara is partially preserved inside the place of worship.
Next to the church is the Hospital and the Monastery of the Misericordians, this building was also burned down on the night of July 6-7, 1849 and rebuilt two years later. The first pharmacy in Timișoara operated in the hospital. Nowadays the Ophthalmology Hospital is located in the building of the former hospital of the Mizericordienilor.
In 1990, the Roman Catholic Episcopate gave the church to the Greek Catholics in Timişoara.
Bibliography:
Matei Barbu, Timișoara: churches and temples , ArtPress Publishing House, Timisoara, 2012.
Mihai Opriș, Mihai Botescu - Historic architecture in Timișoara Tempus Publishing House, Timisoara, 2014
The Greek Catholic Church
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“The Citadel, which had been very small in Charles Robert’s time (roughly between the Hunyadi Castle, nowadays housing the Museum of Banat, and Liberty Square), was enlarged by Ioan Hunyadi to such an extent that it encompassed the civilian dwellings that had sprung up outside the old walls - a phenomenon that was very common to all medieval citadels, and which led, at that time, to the emergence of a new social class, named after the Citadel. The new neighborhoods that emerged later on surrounded the citadel like satellites attracted and repelled at the same time, by the military-trade-industrial planet, which kept shining in the armor of Mars.” (Mircea Șerbănescu, Timișoara, Tineretului Publishing House, p. 73-74).
