Barokní špitál v Lounech Almshouse

The Baroque poorhouse stands on Žižkova Street in the Žatecké předměstí in Louny and is part of the Louny urban heritage preservation zone. It was declared a cultural monument before 1988.

The oldest municipal poorhouse was founded in the early thirties of the fourteenth century by the Louny alderman Bér. It stood in the Magdalene convent on the left bank of the Ohře River, on the way to Dobroměřice. It was destroyed together with the convent during the Hussite wars. A new poorhouse was established in 1459 on the orders of George of Poděbrady. It cared for sixteen poor people and was financed by municipal estates in Dobroměřice and Rané. It stood on the right bank of the river below the Žatecké předměstí, right next to the Chapel of Mary Magdalene. It fell into disrepair during the Thirty Years' War. In 1660, the townswoman Elizabeth Pšanská founded an endowment for its restoration. The renovated building, however, proved inadequate, and so the city council began to consider a completely new structure.

The authorship of the new poorhouse was long attributed to Antonio della Porta. This was based mainly on the architectural style of the building and on Porta's letter from January 1694, which was, however, misinterpreted. In it, Porta writes to the people of Louny that he studied the drawing of his student Ludvík Naymayer, made minor adjustments to it, and recommended building according to it. Naymayer then supervised the construction according to his contract with the city. It was his first work for Louny. Later he settled there and designed, among other things, the local Church of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

Construction took place from 1694, when stone was being brought in, until 1699. In 1696 the building received a shingle roof, and over the next two years the gables were created. Finally, Naymayer applied paint to the façade.

The poorhouse served its purpose in the centuries that followed. During the First Republic, it was financed by an endowment from Louny businessman Václav Valtera. It had twelve places, six for men and six for women. Each resident had his own apartment and received a subsidy for heating and clothing. After the Second World War, apartments were created there. In the nineteen eighties, the building was in such poor condition that demolition was considered. It was saved by a plan to establish a regional archive repository there. After 1990 the city sold the poorhouse. The new owner renovated it between 1994 and 1995 and operated a guest house there. It was then that the name Baroque Poorhouse came into use.

The multi-story building has a rectangular floor plan and the entire façade is divided by pilasters. The windows on the ground floor are decorated with rustication. Above the windows on the upper floor are pediments with two volutes. The windows also have drops, a decorative element typical of the seventeenth century. Above the portal is the date 1698, which was added during the renovation in the nineteen nineties. The gables on the shorter sides are bordered by volute wings with obelisks and are crowned with a triangular pediment.