Bilz Sanatorium

Extract from the "Stadtlexikon Radebeul":

Bilz-Sanatorium, also "Bilz' Natur-Heilanstalt" or "Sanatorium Bilz" (Eduard-Bilz-Str. 53).

In September 1890, F. E. Bilz acquired the extensive vineyard property at Strakenweg 86 in Oberlößnitz from the Viennese private owner Richard Strubell in order to establish a "health resort for a natural way of life and healing" in line with his naturopathic teachings.

The late 18th century manor house with wine press, bakehouse and stables was converted into a villa around 1840 and surrounded by a park, which also included the so-called "mouse tower" (now a ruin) on the hill. Bilz converted the wash house into a bathing parlour and the cowshed into a men's bath and in September 1892 was granted a licence to operate a sanatorium, initially for 15 patients.

The first medical director was the Radebeul doctor Julius Hermann Päßler. Due to the great demand, Bilz had a four-storey Swiss-style spa building ("Schloß Lößnitz") built in 1894 according to plans by the firm Gebr. Ziller, the south façade of which is structured by wooden loggias over its entire length. The pointed tower dome above the centre axis and the gabled superstructures gave the house a castle-like character.

In 1895/96, a further spa centre and a bathhouse were built. In 1898, the Jägerberg site was also incorporated into the sanatorium operations, so that at the turn of the century the sanatorium was one of the largest of its kind in the Dresden area with more than 150 beds.

Bilz had hundreds of fruit trees planted, 20 air cabins and several sports facilities built on the sanatorium grounds, which reached a maximum size of 7.5 hectares through additional purchases, as well as water features and an extensive network of paths. The sanatorium also developed into a cultural centre for the Lößnitz communities thanks to regular concerts in the square as well as park, winegrowers' and rose festivals. In its heyday until the I. World War I, the B.-S. counted over 400 guests a year.

Bilz's cure method relied on the self-healing powers of the patients, which were supported by natural means. Air cures, water treatments, massages and exercise therapy were used to treat diseases of the nervous system, respiratory and digestive organs, metabolism, heart conditions as well as urological, gynaecological and dermatological conditions; the spa achieved the greatest success with patients suffering from internal and neurological diseases.

The medical staff included renowned physicians and naturopaths such as Paul Aschke, Otto Wagner and Eugen Bilfinger. Bilz's son Alfred took over the management of the clinic in 1905. After the founder's death in 1922, the B.-S. increasingly struggled with economic difficulties.

Used as a Wehrmacht reserve hospital from 1941, it was occupied by the Red Army in 1945 and largely demolished. The buildings were then used as emergency accommodation, from 1946 as the headquarters of the Finance School of the State of Saxony and from 1953 to 1991 as a boarding school for the Institute for Teacher Training "Edwin Hoernle". [...].

You can read the full article in the "Stadtlexikon Radebeul. Historical handbook for the Lößnitz"