{"id":45,"date":"2026-10-22T09:28:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T07:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vongeramb.sk\/?page_id=45"},"modified":"2026-10-28T05:45:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T04:45:38","slug":"palace-and-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vongeramb.sk\/en\/palac-a-historia\/","title":{"rendered":"Hist\u00f3ria"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Kre\u010dm\u00e1ry-Geramb Palace<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History of the \u2018Old Hospital\u2019<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The Kre\u010dm\u00e1ry-Geramb Palace, a town palace also known as the \u2018Old Hospital\u2019, at A. P\u00e9cha 5 has a long and remarkable history spanning more than five centuries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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15th\u201318th centuries<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From two Gothic houses to a Neoclassical palace<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After the Chamber Court (Kammerhof), it is one of the largest burgher buildings in Bansk\u00e1 \u0160tiavnica. It is also significant because it combines elements of burgher and aristocratic architecture of the mid-18th century. Its very location, about 100 m from the main historic square and close to Bansk\u00e1 \u0160tiavnica's dominant landmark \u2013 the Old Castle \u2013 hints at its importance and the status of its owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It underwent a remarkable evolution and extensive rebuilding: from two medieval Gothic houses of the late 15th century, through a Renaissance conversion into a four-wing building with an inner courtyard and arcade, to a Baroque and later Neoclassical palace whose defining features are simplicity, functionality and elegance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Palace\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Four-wing palace with an inner courtyard and arcade<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n
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1578<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Renaissance portal and the first known owner<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although the earliest record in historical sources dates from 1579, at the back of the house on the ground floor there is a Renaissance portal bearing the date 1578 and a coat of arms, so the house is certainly older. The coat of arms depicts a hammer and pick \u2013 the symbols of mining \u2013 and the letter J. This is probably the initial of the earliest known owner, the burgher and mine owner J\u00e1n (Johann) Kastner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Detail\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n
The Renaissance portal from 1578 is on the ground floor in front of the rear entrance to the building. South side of the square courtyard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n
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Waldb\u00fcrger Haus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kre\u010dm\u00e1ri House<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After J\u00e1n Kastner's death, the town palace passed through the hands of many owners. Among the most prominent families to own it was that of J\u00e1n von Krecsm\u00e1ry. J\u00e1n Kre\u010dm\u00e1ri held important posts in the chamber and municipal administration as secretary of the Chief Chamber Count's Office, mining judge, town notary and member of the town council. The family was among the richest and most prominent in the town. It was during this period that the name Kre\u010dm\u00e1ri House came into use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those keeping the land register classified it as a Waldb\u00fcrger (mine owner's) house \u2013 Waldb\u00fcrger Haus. Houses in this category belonged to the wealthiest classes (mine owners, merchants) and were located in the historic core of the town. A lower category consisted of burgher houses (craftsmen, small traders), and the lowest, on the outskirts, of miners' houses (Heuer Haus).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Old Hospital in Bansk\u00e1 \u0160tiavnica in the late 1950s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n
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1784<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mining Academy and Professor Jacquin<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The family acquired considerable property in the town and the surrounding area. Among other things, they also ran the brewery in Vyhne. Later, however, the descendants of J\u00e1n von Kre\u010dm\u00e9ri fell into debt, and this also affected the fate of their palace, which, after the settlement of debts, losses and subsequent sales, came into the possession of Ign\u00e1c Viktor von Geramb in 1784. At that time it already housed part of a hospital, the owner's living quarters, a lecture hall of the Mining Academy, a library, a cabinet of models, the flat of a mining councillor and the laboratory of Professor Mikul\u00e1\u0161 Jacquin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baron Mikul\u00e1\u0161 Jozef von Jacquin was professor of chemistry and mineralogy at the newly founded Mining Academy (the oldest institution of higher education of its kind in the world) in Bansk\u00e1 \u0160tiavnica \u2013 at that time the third-largest town in the Kingdom of Hungary. He was appointed on 13 June 1763 by decision of Maria Theresa. Before that, however, between 1754 and 1759, at the request of Francis Stephen of Lorraine, he led an expedition to the Caribbean and America, where he collected new plants and animals for the imperial gardens in Vienna and Sch\u00f6nbrunn Palace. A memorial plaque to Mikul\u00e1\u0161 Jozef von Jacquin is on the fa\u00e7ade of the town palace, to the right of the main gate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Portrait\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Baron Mikul\u00e1\u0161 Jozef von Jacquin, painted portrait by F\u00fcger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n
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1785 \u2013 1788<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Neoclassical palace of the von Geramb family<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Between 1785 and 1788 Ign\u00e1c Viktor von Geramb had it rebuilt as a Neoclassical palace with unique murals in the rooms on the upper floor. The von Geramb family came from the small town of Freistadt in Upper Austria; over time it branched out, and besides Bansk\u00e1 \u0160tiavnica its lines reached Vienna and the French city of Lille. Franz Gottlieb von Geramb, who served as assayer of precious metals at the Mining Chamber, came to Bansk\u00e1 \u0160tiavnica around 1687.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of his three sons (Franti\u0161ek, Ferdinand, J\u00e1n Jozef), it was the last who distinguished himself. J\u00e1n Nepomuk Jozef von Geramb was the most important figure in mining enterprise in the 18th century. By profession he was chamber treasurer, imperial and royal councillor, assessor of the Chief Chamber Count's Office, and chief economic inspector of smelters and stamp mills throughout the Lower Hungarian mining region. He also founded the Geramb Union, the largest private mining company of its time in the Kingdom of Hungary (it ceased to exist in 1906). A coat of arms dated 1778 survives on the fa\u00e7ade of the house to this day. J\u00e1n Nepomuk is buried in the parish Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, and his ornate epitaph is on the second pillar in the side aisle of the church.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Restored\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
The restored late-18th-century fresco of Apollo in the Fresco apartment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Coat\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Coat of arms of the Geramb Mining Union from the Schopfer Adit, bearing the year of its foundation, 1752<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n
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1800 \u2013 1992<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hospital<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Besides mining, some members of the family made their name in the military. J\u00e1n Jozef's son Ign\u00e1c Viktor von Geramb served as a cavalry major. Several historical sources state that the house belonged to Major Geramb (Major Gerambische Haus). After the death of Ign\u00e1c Viktor von Geramb in 1788, the town palace passed into the ownership of the town, even though he had heirs \u2013 six children with his wife Kl\u00e1ra, n\u00e9e Rozenzwigov\u00e1. The likely reason for the sale was debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1800 the owner was St. Lawrence's Hospital (Sankt Laurentii Spital). Until 1891 the house was also used for teaching by the Academy, and for a time the District Court with a prison was based in the front part. Later, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, a more extensive internal reconstruction was carried out so that the building could be used exclusively as a hospital, and it was renamed St. Elizabeth's Municipal Public Hospital. After February 1948 it became the Hospital with Polyclinic. From 1949 the hospital building came under state health administration, and it continued to operate as a hospital until 1992.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Historical\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Windows of the gynaecology ward, 1978<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The hospital courtyard in 1955<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n
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2018 \u2013 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restoration of the palace<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From then on the building fell into disrepair until restoration and construction work began in 2018. Since 2021 the town palace has been restored once again. The building has several owners. Many of them had the badly damaged murals restored at their own expense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The town palace is beginning a new journey in its newly restored spaces, offering a touch of history to the many owners and visitors of this witness to the history of one of Slovakia's most amazing towns.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Palace\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
The palace staircase today<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n
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Photographs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The palace today<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Sources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n