From four-bed clinic to modern eye hospital: ophthalmology in Leipzig, 1820-1996

The opening of the "Heilanstalt für arme Augenkranke" by Friedrich Philipp Ritterich (1782-1866) in 1820 was an important landmark for ophthalmology in Leipzig and in all of Germany. The first chair of ophthalmology in Germany was taken by Christian Georg Theodor Ruete in 1852. In 1883 the clinic moved to a new domicile, a modern building in the Leipzig "medical quarter." In the ensuing years, the hospital developed into a well-known university center of ophthalmology with the scientific, clinical, and organizational work of ophthalmologists such as Hubert Sattler and Ernst Hertel. The extension of the old building in 1908-1911 and the rebuilding after the destruction in World War II created better opportunities for research, teaching, and patient treatment. Comprehensive expansion and reconstruction of the Eye Hospital since 1994 has created excellent conditions for both clinical and experimental ophthalmology as well as the training of students.