Today, it remains a building with a significant historical value on a regional scale.

History

The funds for the construction of the building were provided by hetman Jan Klemens Branicki, who wanted it to become a municipal hospital for the poor. The building was constructed in the years 1763-1768, with the task of caring for the sick being entrusted to the nuns from the local convent. In addition to the sick wards, the building also housed a chapel and a parish school. In later years, the former hospital became an almshouse for the impoverished residents of Białystok. In 1855, the edifice was acquired by the Charitable Society of Białystok, which conducted a comprehensive renovation in 1859. In 1919, an auditorium was added to the existing structure. During the interwar period, the former hospital served as a Catholic community centre as well as a cinema called “Świat” (“The Globe”). The building survived World War II without suffering any major damage. Shortly after the war, the former cinema became a makeshift courtroom where show trials were staged by the communist authorities. In the years 1944-1948, the building served as the City Theatre and then as a cinema known as “Ton” (“The Tone”). In the 1950s, the building underwent a comprehensive restoration, with its interiors being adapted to serve as a cinema; in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the interiors were modernised and refurbished once again, with partition walls reappearing in the older part of the ground floor level. After the year 1990, the edifice was returned to the Catholic Church; today, the ground floor serves as a cinema and book store, while the first-floor premises are occupied by offices of the parish administration. The façades of the older, Baroque section of the building have received a new plaster finish.

Description

The building is located in the city centre, on the eastern side of the Kościuszko Square. The plot on which the building stands adjoins the western section of the perimeter wall surrounding the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The building is a Baroque structure with an annex from 1919.

It consists of two rectangular sections, their shorter sides being connected at an obtuse angle. The more recent section of the structure features an elongated shape.

The Baroque section of the building is a cuboid brick structure, its walls covered with plaster; its front (southern) façade features an avant-corps with an arcade on the ground-floor level. The western façade is adjoined by a brick perimeter wall featuring rusticated gate posts clad with roof tiles; the middle section of the perimeter wall features openwork metal spans. A retaining wall surmounted by a fence of a similar design runs alongside the western façade of the building. The building itself is a two-storey edifice with a basement underneath parts of its structure; the arcade and the ground-floor rooms feature original double barrel vaults. The structure is covered with a gable roof, with the exception of the northern section which has a three-sided roof instead; the roof surfaces are clad with sheet metal. The walls of the ground floor level are adorned with decorative rustication. An eaves cornice adorns all of the building’s façade, with some of them also featuring a string course. The main (southern) façade follows a five-axial layout and features a central, three-axial, two-storey avant-corps with pilaster on both levels as well as an arcade consisting of a series of wide arches supported by broad, rectangular pillars, with the central arcade being taller and wider than the rest. The avant-corps is topped with a gable roof surmounted by an ornamental urn. The triangular tympanum of the avant-corps incorporates a decorative rendition of the city’s coat of arms. The side façades (the eastern and the western façade) follow a five-axial and three-axial layout on the ground-floor level and the first-floor level respectively. The overall interior layout and vaulted ceilings have been preserved intact, although the interior décor is thoroughly modern in appearance.

The annex is covered with a gable roof. Its façades are adorned with decorative panels.

The historic monument can be visited from the outside.

compiled by Grażyna Rogala, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Białystok, 10-12-2014.

Bibliography

• Lechowski A., Białystok. Przewodnik historyczny, Białystok [no year of issue stated], pp. 44-46, fig. p. 43;
• Tajemnicza historia ukryta w murach białostockiego kina „Ton”, B. Zdrojewska (ed.), Białystok 2007, pp. 3-10.