Bürgerspital Steyr

The Bürgerspital stands in Steyrdorf, a quarter of Steyr in Upper Austria, beside the river. Built at the start of the 14th century, the main building once housed the old, sick and poor of the town. A separate late-medieval church was added around 1500 and later turned into the parish priest’s house. Elisabeth of Görz and Tyrol paid for the rebuilding after a fire in 1302 and a metal plaque above the Michaelerplatz entrance still bears the date 1313. The hospital could shelter thirty-two people and received gifts of farmland and vineyards. A late-18th-century tower cap and a cellar once used for serving surplus wine are reminders of later centuries. The chronicler Valentin Preuenhueber recorded how visitors recognised Steyr by the church standing over a tavern cellar. Today the complex shows the marks of many restorations, from 1924 to 2011. The river-side wall carries a painted Steyr panther and a flood mark for the worst flood of 1572. Inside, the 2011 repairs kept aged roof beams and reused old red tiles to keep the varied look of the roof. Since 2001 the building has housed Austria’s first Christmas museum.