Provincial treatment and care asylums for the mentally ill in East Prussia as forgotten cultural heritage: case study of the asylum in Allenberg (now Znamensk, Russian Federation)
Provincial treatment and care asylums for the mentally ill in East Prussia as forgotten cultural heritage: case study of the asylum in Allenberg (now Znamensk, Russian Federation)

Summary/Abstract: The article is a contribution to the research on the role of architecture in the development of Prussian psychiatry in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The basic research problem is the role and perception of model solutions applied in nineteenth-century asylums located in remote provinces, an excellent example being the former Provincial Treatment and Care Centre in Allenberg. Based on the analysis of archival materials and professional journals, the architecture of the Allenberg asylum is compared to contemporary trends and requirements for asylum architecture. It has been found that the asylum discussed in the study met these requirements, proving that models and modern trends from leading centres rapidly reached distant provinces. To summarise, it can be argued that the asylum complex in Allenberg was a testimony to the development of Prussian and European architectural thought in the service of medicine. Unfortunately, today the former asylum remains in an extremely poor condition and is treated as unwanted legacy rather than a cultural monument.

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