Klaićeva Hospital – Years of Growth
Exhibition created and catalogue authored by Vesna Leiner
Exhibition design by Nikolina Jelavić Mitrović
Catalogue design by Viola Šebalj
Catalogued edited by Aleksandra Bugar
Exhibition preparation professional assistance by Petra Husain Pustaj
The exhibition Klaićeva Hospital – Years of Growth presents the development of an important Croatian and Zagreb healthcare institution in which numerous children have stayed, for short periods at least.
Through research into the archival records, photographs, newspaper articles and objects, the story of care for the health of children in Zagreb ever since the beginning of the 20th century is told in ten units.
Few of us, inhabitants of this city, know the path taken by this establishment since its foundation – from entirely unclear sketches of the time in which the health care of mothers and children was in its infancy, via the generous pioneering attempts of visionary physicians at the beginning of the 20th century and the formation of the first healthcare establishments, up to the present time and the respected Children’s Hospital Zagreb with top physicians and other medical staff.
As heritage institution that keeps the memory of the city of Zagreb and presents it to fellow citizens and all visitors, Zagreb City Museum is presenting this important healthcare establishment and the role and status it occupies in our city and state.
The exhibition starts with a depiction of the image of welfare and health care image in Zagreb at the beginning of the 20th century and with the formation of the first welfare and healthcare establishments to look after mothers and children.
Dr Švarc with some little patients, 1931
Our second theme takes us into Klaićeva Street and shows the building of the Sanatorium in the 1920s, its location in its grounds, the drawings and the photographs, and the role it played in Zagreb.
Building of the Sanatorium, 1911
Topic three briefly tells of what happened with the Sanatorium after World War II (expropriation, and renaming as Zagreb General Hospital), while theme four is dedicated to the role of the Centre for the Protection of Mothers and Children, how the idea for the foundation of the Centre was arrived at, the role of UNICEF and the education of healthcare personnel…
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Dr Branko Poljugan, about 1960
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Entry into the Centre for the Protection of Mothers and Children, 1956
Theme five is called Years of Growth and deals with the work of the clinic from the 1960s to the end of the 1980s, its physical expansion, the teams involved, results in the prevention and treatment of mothers and children, scientific research work and publications, successes, awards and recognitions.
Surgeons Dr Tomislav Vlahović and Dr Andrija Car during an operation in 1988.
The sixth section is dedicated to the role the Hospital played in the Homeland War with its care for wounded and sick children from the war-torn areas of Croatia, and later Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the physicians and other personnel of the Hospital sent to the field hospitals in Vukovar and Đakovo and elsewhere, as well as the grave episode of the rocket attack on Zagreb in 1995.
The wounded in the Cerna field hospital, located in a sports hall, 1992
Theme seven deals with the development of the Hospital in the now independent country, with modernisation, renovation and reorganisation, while theme eight is dedicated to the humanisation of inpatient treatment for children as part of the For a Child’s Smile in Hospital campaign, and the title of Clinic for Children’s Illnesses Zagreb, Friend of Children, which the Hospital has had since 2008. Not only do children receive care and treatment, while in the hospital they can also attend kindergarten and school, taking part in other activities, all to make their stay that bit easier.
Operating theatre in the 2016-renovated part of the operating block, 2017
Many and very various charitable campaigns aimed at procuring medicines, important and expensive medical equipment for the better care of the children are taken up in the ninth theme in newspaper articles and photographs of well known people – artists, politicians, sportspeople – who have visited the hospital and taken part in Hospital donation campaigns.
Chapel of Light, 2001
David Copperfield in Klaićeva in the company of Hospital staff, 2004
The tenth topic is a depiction of the organisation for the Children’s Hospital Zagreb with its numerous clinics, departments and institutes that function as a contemporary and excellently staffed healthcare establishment at the highest level.
Intensive Care Department, 2017
Leiner, Vesna. Klaićeva Hospital – Years of Growth.
Zagreb : Zagreb city Museum, 2017.
[exhibition catalog]