Duke Hans Hospital and Church (Hertug Hans Hospitalskirke) was established in 1569. It was not a hospital in today’s sense; we would call it a poorhouse. It was a place where poor and infirm elderly people could get free board and lodging when they could not fend for themselves and had no family to take care of them. It was far from luxurious, but they had a roof over their heads and were spared from having to beg. There was also a chapel there, so they had access to the church in their old age.
Duke Hans the Elder lived in Haderslev from 1544 until his death in 1580. It was something of a heyday for the town, as a permanent princely court generated a good income and work. After the Reformation, areas such as health care had been neglected as they used to come under the Catholic Church. With the establishment of the hospital, Duke Hans gave care for the poor and the elderly a boost. Over time, conditions for the residents improved, and the Hertug Hans Hospital served as a home for the elderly from 1569 to 1983, when the building could no longer meet the requirements to continue as a nursing home.
Following a thorough renovation in the late 1980s, the hospital is now used by Haderslev Domsogn for meeting rooms, etc., and weekly services and other religious ceremonies are held in the chapel.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.