Academic Hospital Utrecht
Catharijnesingel 101
Former medical centre and first university teaching hospital in the Netherlands — You are standing in front of the Utrecht University and the city of Utrecht’s former hospital complex. Nowadays, people go for a stroll along the canal or enjoy a walk on the pavement. What a difference with fifty years ago: can’t you just imagine the ambulances screeching by?
This hospital complex was opened in 1871. It stretched all the way from the railways at Central Station to the Catharijnesingel. The forerunner to this hospital was situated on the Lange Jufferstraat 10B.
At its foundation in 1817, the Academisch Ziekenhuis Utrecht (AZU) was the first university teaching hospital in the Netherlands.
In 1924, the city of Utrecht and Utrecht University entered into a close cooperation and as a result of this the name of the complex was changed to Stads- en Academisch Ziekenhuis Utrecht (SAZU). In 1971, however, this cooperation came to an end and the name was changed back to AZU.
The AZU moved to De Uithof in 1989. Ten years later, the AZU merged with the Wilhelmina Kinderziekenhuis (WKZ), the Ooglijdersgasthuis (OLGH), the department of special dentistry of the Faculty of Dentistry, the Medical Faculty of Utrecht University (MFU) and the Military Hospital. Since then, it has been called the University Medical Centre (UMC) Utrecht.
Nowadays, this impressive building on the Catharijnesingel is an apartment complex.
